servidor

Forms

servidor m (plural servidores, feminine servidora, feminine plural servidoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin servītor (“servant”), the agent noun of servīre (“to serve”).^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of servir, and by surface analysis it is the verb with the suffix -dor.^[4][5][1] Nascentes takes the Portuguese word to be semi-learned.^[6]

The same Latin word is Portuguese servidor, Catalan servidor, French serviteur, Italian servitore and Romanian servitor.^[1][7][8]

The Latin verb comes from servus (“slave”).^[9][1] De Vaan traces this noun to *serwo- (“shepherd”) and Proto-Indo-European *ser-u-o- (“guardian”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas finds the word first in Berceo (1220–1250).^[4][5] DEMel has servidores in the Libro de los doce sabios (c. 1237) and servidor in the Bocados de oro (c. 1250).^[11] The Siete Partidas explain the Greek word for deacon by it: diachono tanto quiere dezir en griego cuemo seruidor, ca ellos han de seruir a los prestes “deacon means in Greek as much as servant, for they have to serve the priests”.^[12]

Semantic evolution

In Alfonso X's prose the word is also an adjective, “serviceable, diligent”.^[12] Nebrija (1495) gives Latin cliens and minister for it.^[13] Percyvall (1591) translates it “a servant” and also “a close stool”.^[14] The Diccionario de Autoridades lists the servant, the man who courts a lady, the courtly formula of someone who puts himself at another's disposal, and the bacín or chamber pot, with a quotation from Gracián.^[15] Terreros adds the ironic servidor that answers someone without agreeing, like French je suis votre serviteur.^[16] Domínguez in 1846 calls the chamber-pot sense little used except in jest.^[17]

The Academy's 1899 edition defines the name a person gives himself out of courtesy; today un servidor “yours truly” takes the verb in the third person.^[18][2] The modern dictionaries add the person who operates a gun or a machine and, in computing, the server of a network, a word adapted from English server.^[2][19] In Mexico a servidor público is a civil servant.^[20] In Dominican popular religion a servidor is a priest or healer.^[21]

Timeline

• 1220–1250 – Berceo uses it, Corominas's first record.^[4][5]
• c. 1237 – the Libro de los doce sabios has servidores.^[11]
• 1256–1300 – the Siete Partidas gloss the Greek word for deacon as seruidor.^[12]
• 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin cliens and minister.^[13]
• 1525 – first record in the Americas, at Nombre de Dios.^[22]
• 1591 – Percyvall records the sense “close stool”.^[14]
• 1817 – the Academy lists the suitor, the courtly formula and the chamber pot.^[23]
• 1884 – the Academy gives Latin servitor as the etymology.^[24]
• 1899 – the Academy defines the courteous self-reference.^[18]

Meanings

Noun

1. A servant: a person who serves another, especially in a household.^[2][20]
2. A person who operates a weapon, a machine or another device.^[2][20]
3. Used by the speaker to refer to himself or herself, with the verb in the third person;^[2][1] “yours truly”: Aquí un servidor se encarga de todo.^[2][1]
4. Used in courtesy formulas closing a letter: su seguro servidor.^[2][20]
5. (dated) A man who courts a lady; a suitor.^[2][15]
6. A chamber pot (orinal).^[2][1]
7. (computing) A server: a computer that provides services to other computers connected to it through a network.^[2][1]
8. (Dominican Republic) In popular religion, a priest or healer.^[21]

Related words

• servir
• siervo
• sirviente
• servicio
• Latin servitor

Usage notes

¡Servidor! is used to answer a roll call, like ¡presente!.^[20] The proverb ruin señor cría ruin servidor says that a bad master breeds a bad servant.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. servidor
3. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 642
4. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 243
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. siervo
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. servidor
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. servidor
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. servidor
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
11. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. servidor
12. ^ a b c 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. servidor
13. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (c. 1495), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca (facsimile, Madrid: Real Academia Española 1951), p. 192
14. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 213
15. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 6, 100
16. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 3, 479
17. ^ Domínguez, Ramón Joaquín (1846–1847), Diccionario nacional o gran diccionario clásico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Establecimiento Léxico-Tipográfico de R. J. Domínguez, p. 2, 1563
18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 911
19. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. servidor
20. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. servidor
21. ^ a b Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. servidor
22. ^ 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. servidor
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 799
24. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 972