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sauvage

Etymology and origin of the French word sauvage

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
late 11th century, Chanson de Guillaume
Inherited from
Latin salvaticus via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (silva)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (France): /so.vaʒ/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): /sɔ.vaʒ/[1]

Forms

sauvage (plural sauvages)[1] Old French salvage (late 11th century), sauvage (about 1175); salvaige and saulvage until the 16th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French salvage, inherited from Late Latin salvāticus, an alteration by vowel assimilation of Latin silvāticus (“of the woods; wild, of plants”),[3][5][4][1][6] from silva (“forest, wood”),[7][3] which gave Old French selve (1080), now found only in place names.[3] The Petit Robert calls the Latin noun of obscure origin.[8]

Cognate with Romanian sălbatic, Italian salvatico and Occitan salvatge;[8][5] selvaggio and Spanish salvaje are borrowed.[5] From French came English savage (13th century).[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF finds salvage in the Chanson de Guillaume at the end of the 11th century;[2] Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) has asne salvage, the wild ass.[7]

Semantic evolution

Beside animals living free in nature, the word was used from the 12th century of people: the Couronnement de Louis (1135) calls the Saracens la gent sauvage, and it described hermits or brigands living alone in the woods.[7][3] It meant an untilled, uninhabited land (Eneas, about 1160) and wild fruit trees (about 1165).[7] Philippe de Thaon also uses it for “foreign, outside the group”, and Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165) for someone shy and unsociable.[7]

As a noun, a sauvage was a member of a primitive people (1596, Hulsius) and a person who likes solitude (1555, Pascal, 1656).[7][9] In North America the word was long used for the Native peoples; sauvagesse (1632) was coined there, and Canadian French calls the raccoon chat sauvage (1630).[5][8][1] Other derivatives are sauvagine (about 1125), sauvageon (1396) and sauvagerie (about 1739).[5]

Timeline

  • Late 11th century – Salvage in the Chanson de Guillaume.[2]
  • 1121–1134 – Asne salvage, in Philippe de Thaon.[7]
  • c. 1125 – Sauvagine.[5]
  • 1135 – La gent sauvage “the Saracens”.[7]
  • c. 1160 – Of untilled land, in Eneas.[7]
  • c. 1175 – The form sauvage.[3]
  • 1596 – A sauvage, member of a primitive people.[7]
  • 1632 – Sauvagesse, in America.[5]
  • c. 1739 – Sauvagerie.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of animals, wild, not domesticated: les animaux sauvages, canard, oie sauvage.[8][1]
  2. Of plants, growing wild, uncultivated.[7][1]
  3. Of places, wild, untouched, uninhabited.[7][1]
  4. (dated) Uncivilized, primitive; rough, coarse.[7][1]
  5. Unsociable, shy, keeping to oneself.[7][1]
  6. Fierce, violent, savage.[7]
  7. Unregulated, unauthorized.[1]

Noun

  1. (dated, offensive) A member of a primitive people, a savage, (North America, obsolete) a Native American.[7][1]
  2. A person who shuns company, a loner.[9][7]

Word family

  • ensauvager
  • sauvagement
  • sauvagerie
  • sauvagesse
  • sauvageon
  • sauvagine

Usage notes

In Canadian French chat sauvage is the raccoon.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 616b
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sauvage.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/sauvage. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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