Etymologically
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service

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈsɜː.vɪs/, US /ˈsɝː-/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English servise, late Old English serfise (“ceremony”),[2] borrowed from Old French servise (“homage, servitude, service at table, Mass”),[3][2][4] from Latin servitium (“slavery, servitude; slaves collectively”),[3][5] from servus (“slave”), the source also of serve and servant.[3][6] The service tree, whose name comes from the plural serves of Old English syrfe, from Latin sorbus, is a different word.[3][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Public religious worship according to a set form (about 1100).[3][9][4]

Semantic evolution

The meanings “the act of serving, the work of a servant” and “help, a helpful act” date from about 1200,[3] “labour done for another” and “the state of being bound to serve” from the mid-13th century.[3] About 1300 service also meant employment at court or in government and military service, especially by a knight, hence “the armed forces” as an occupation (1706).[3] At table it meant the provision of food and the sequence of dishes (about 1300), and then the dishes and utensils themselves (mid-15th century), as in tea service.[3][10] In law the serving of a writ is from 1426.[10] The supply of gas, water or electricity is a service by 1879, extended to broadcasting in 1927.[3] The Middle English verb servisen “to serve as a knight” (about 1300) died with the feudal system.[3] The modern verb “to provide with a service” (1893) is probably a new formation, and “to maintain and repair” is by 1926.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – public worship.[3]
  • c. 1200 – the work of a servant, and help.[3]
  • mid-13th century – labour for another.[3]
  • c. 1300 – court and military service, and the serving of food.[3]
  • 1426 – the serving of a writ.[10]
  • mid-15th century – a set of dishes.[3]
  • 1706 – the armed forces as an occupation.[3]
  • 1879 – a supply of gas, water or electricity.[3]
  • 1893 – verb, to provide with a service.[3]
  • 1926 – verb, to maintain and repair.[3]
  • 1927 – a broadcasting service.[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. Work done for another or for a government; employment.
  2. A government department and its staff: the civil service.
  3. The armed forces, or one branch of them.
  4. Work done for others as a business: a delivery service.
  5. Maintenance or repair: the car is due for a service.
  6. A form of public worship: a church service.
  7. The serving of food, or a set of dishes: a tea service.
  8. A supply of gas, water or electricity, or a broadcasting system.
  9. (law) The delivery of a writ or summons.

Verb

  1. To repair or maintain: service the boiler.
  2. To provide services to.
  3. To pay interest on (a debt).
  4. Of a male animal, to mate with.

Adjective

  1. Of the armed forces, or for supplying or repairing: a service entrance.

Word family

  • servicer
  • unserviced
  • serve
  • servant
  • servile
  • serf
  • sorb

Usage notes

Apart from finance (service a debt) and animal breeding, the verb service is used mainly for “to repair or maintain”;[11] for “to supply goods or services to” the AHD prefers serve (one radio network serves three states).[11]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  10. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin