Etymologically
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salvare

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Pronunciation

  • /salˈva.re/[1]

Forms

salvare (first-person singular present sàlvo, first-person singular past historic salvài, past participle salvàto, auxiliary avére)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin salvō (“to heal; to keep safe; to redeem”), a verb made in Late Latin from the adjective Latin salvus (“whole, unharmed, safe”) (see salvo), which took the place of servō (“to keep”).[2][3][4][5] The Christian writers used the verb for redemption, beside salvātor “Saviour”, which translated Ancient Greek σωτήρ (sōtḗr).[2][6] The same verb is French sauver, Occitan sauvar, Catalan salvar, Spanish salvar and Portuguese salvar.[2][6]

The adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *salawos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole”), and compares Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and Sanskrit सर्व (sárva, “whole, all”).[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is the Ritmo laurenziano of the late 12th century, for “to bring out of danger”;[7][4] GRADIT dates the verb to 1219.[7][4] Giacomo da Lentini, before 1250, uses it for gaining salvation of the soul.[7]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian texts use the verb both for guarding people and goods and for rescuing them;[8][9][10] Dante uses esser salvato for being saved from the pains of Hell.[8][9][10] The reflexive salvarsi “to escape a mortal danger” is in Guittone d'Arezzo before 1294.[7] Formulas such as Dio ti salvi! were once greetings, and Boccaccio's se Dio mi salvi affirmed that one was telling the truth.[4]

Compounds of the type verb + noun followed: salvadanaio “money box” in the 15th century, salvagente “life buoy” in 1866 and salvavita, at first a trade name for a circuit breaker, in 1974.[2][9][7] Salvataggio “rescue” is French sauvetage.[7] In computing salvare now means to save data to memory or disk; the GDLI's supplement quotes it from 1997.[4][8]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – The Ritmo laurenziano has salvare.[7]
  • 1219 – GRADIT's date for the verb.[4]
  • Before 1250 – Giacomo da Lentini uses the reflexive for salvation.[7]
  • Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses salvarsi “to escape”.[7]
  • 1866 – Salvagente is recorded.[2]
  • 1974 – Salvavita is recorded.[2]
  • 1997 – The computing sense is quoted in the press.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To save, rescue someone from danger or death: I vigili del fuoco hanno salvato tre persone.[4][11][12]
  2. (transitive) To protect something from damage or ruin, salvare il salvabile, to limit the damage.[4][11]
  3. (transitive) To preserve something's working or integrity; in medicine, to save a limb.[4]
  4. (transitive) To protect someone from moral harm, (religion) to bring to eternal salvation.[4][11]
  5. (transitive) To keep one's honour or reputation intact.[4]
  6. (sport) To stop the other side from scoring at the last moment.[4]
  7. (computing) To save a file or data to memory: Ricordati di salvare il documento.[4][8]
  8. (reflexive) Salvarsi, to escape, be saved.[7][11]

Word family

  • salvataggio
  • salvatore
  • salvagente
  • salvadanaio
  • salvavita
  • salvabile
  • salvamento
  • salvazione

Usage notes

Fixed expressions include salvare la faccia “to save face”, salvare le apparenze “to keep up appearances”, salvare la pelle “to save one's skin” and salvare capra e cavoli “to have it both ways”.[4] The short past participle salvo is popular Tuscan.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  9. ^ a b c Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 870
  10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse