salvar

Forms

salvar (first-person singular present salvo, first-person singular preterite salvé, past participle salvado)^[1] Old Spanish wrote saluar and salvar, with forms such as saluó, salues and saluesse.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish salvar, inherited from Late Latin salvāre (“to save”), a Late Latin verb formed from salvus (“safe, unharmed”).^[1][3][4][5] The DCECH notes that in the adjective salvo the Latin group /al/ was kept instead of becoming /o/, a sign of semi-learned development or of the speech of the upper classes.^[3]

The same Late Latin verb is Portuguese salvar, Catalan salvar, Occitan sauvar, French sauver and Italian salvare.^[6][7][1] In the language of the Church it took the sense “to grant eternal salvation”.^[8]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *salu- (“whole, healthy”), and de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *slH-u- (“whole”).^[9][1] Faliscan, Oscan and Umbrian have related words.^[9][1] salūs (“health, safety”) is of the same root.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The DCECH's first record is the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), in the sense “to save from danger”.^[3][4] A prayer in the poem reads „salveste a Jonás cuando cayó en la mar” “you saved Jonah when he fell into the sea”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Berceo used it in the sense “to protect, defend”, of Santo Domingo of Silos „que salva la frontera”, and the greeting Dios vos salve gave the sense “to greet”, recorded from the 13th to the 15th century.^[3][4] Alfonso X's prose has the senses “to free from danger”, “to grant eternal glory”, “to clear of blame” and, in the reflexive, “to reach heaven”.^[11] From the old sense “to greet” came the noun salva, a ceremonial firing of guns, recorded from 1595.^[4]

Covarrubias in 1611 recorded the notaries' sense: to note at the end of a deed what has been crossed out, corrected or written between the lines.^[12] The sense “to overcome an obstacle” is recorded from about 1570.^[4] The Diccionario de Autoridades gave “to pass over or very near something without touching it”, with a line of Ercilla's Araucana.^[13] In computing it is used for saving a file, a sense the Puerto Rican Tesoro treats as an anglicism after save.^[14][15] In Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay salvar means “to pass an exam”.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – first record, in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[3][10]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos has the greeting „Dios uos salue”.^[10]
• 1220–1250 – first record of salvación and salvador.^[4]
• 1270–1284 – Alfonso X's prose uses it for clearing someone of blame.^[11]
• 1515 – first record in the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[17]
• c. 1570 – first record of the sense “to overcome an obstacle”.^[4]
• 1611 – Covarrubias records the notaries' sense.^[12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive, also reflexive) To save, rescue: to free from a risk or danger: Los bomberos salvaron a toda la familia.^[5][1]
2. (transitive) To avoid a drawback, difficulty or risk.^[5]
3. (transitive) To except, leave out.^[5]
4. (transitive) To clear someone of blame; to prove legally someone's innocence.^[5][11]
5. (transitive) To get over an obstacle: Salvó la valla de un brinco.^[5]
6. (transitive, formal) To cover the distance between two places.^[5][1]
7. (transitive) To rise above a height.^[5]
8. (transitive) To add a note at the end of a document validating the corrections and additions.^[5][12]
9. (religion) Of God: to grant eternal salvation.^[5][11]
10. (Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay) To pass a course or examination.^[16]

Word family

• salvación
• salvador
• salvamento
• salva
• salvavidas
• salvapantallas
• salvamanteles

Related words

• salvado
• salvamiento
• salvo
• salud
• salvaguardia
• Latin salvus

Usage notes

¡Sálvese quien pueda! “every man for himself” is a cry urging people to flee.^[5][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. salvar
3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 142
4. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. salvo
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. salvar
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. salvare
7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 5865
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. salvar
9. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. salvus
10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. salvar
11. ^ a b c d Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. salvar
12. ^ a b c Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 1281
13. ^ Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 34
14. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. salvar
15. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. salvar
16. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. salvar
17. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. salvar