Etymologically
Log in

salvo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 22 October 2026 at 20:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

Forms

salvo (feminine salva, masculine plural salvi, feminine plural salve)[1] Old Lucchese had salve che “except that”, and Ticinese has salz che, influenced by senza.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin salvus (“whole, unharmed, safe”).[4][5][6][1][7] The same word is French sauf, Occitan salf, Catalan salf, Spanish salvo, Portuguese salvo, Logudorese salvu and Friulian salf; it is found in all the Romance languages except Romanian.[5][3][7] The use as a preposition, “except”, is shared with French and with Old Lucchese.[3]

Latin salvus goes back to Proto-Italic *salawos and Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole”).[1][8] It is related to salūs (“health, safety”) and has close cognates in Oscan salavs and Umbrian saluom, in Sanskrit सर्व (sárva, “whole, all”) and in Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”).[8][5][9] De Vaan reconstructs the Indo-European form as Proto-Indo-European *slH-u-.[8] DELI notes the religious and sacral character of the word.[4]

The Late Latin derivatives salvō, salvātor and salvātiō gave salvare, salvatore and salvazione.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is the adjective in the peace treaty between the Pisans and the emir of Tunis of 1264, with the sense “having escaped a danger without harm”.[4] The preposition “except” first appears in the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century.[4]

Semantic evolution

Dante uses salvo for one saved from eternal damnation, a sense that remains in religious language.[6][7] In the 14th century salvo as a noun meant a clause reserving something in a sale or grant: Giovanni Villani writes i patti e salvi furon questi, “these were the terms and reservations”.[10][11] The preposition spread in the 14th century: Villani writes that a city had only one bridge over the Arno, salvo che un solo ponte, and Boccaccio and Petrarch use it freely.[12][10]

Absolute constructions modelled on the Latin ablative, such as salvi i diritti “without prejudice to the rights”, belong to legal and formal style, as do salvo errori e omissioni and salvo buon fine in commerce.[6][13][14] Compound nouns built with the verb salva- multiplied: salvadanaio “money box”, already Medieval Latin salvadinari at Bologna in 1262, salvagente “life buoy” (1866) and salvapunte (1942).[4]

Timeline

  • 1262 – Medieval Latin salvadinari “money box” is recorded at Bologna.[4]
  • 1264 – The adjective appears in the peace treaty between Pisa and Tunis.[4]
  • End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses salvo “except”.[4]
  • 14th century – Giovanni Villani uses salvo as a noun for a reservation in an agreement.[10]
  • 1866 – Salvagente is recorded.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. safe, unhurt: having escaped a danger unharmed: Dopo l'incidente sono usciti tutti salvi dall'auto.[6][15][11]
  2. Intact, undamaged; of abstract things, not compromised: Abbiamo perso la partita, ma l'onore è salvo.[6][15][16]
  3. Out of danger: Dopo l'operazione il paziente è salvo.[6][11][14]
  4. (in absolute constructions) Without prejudice to, safeguarding: salvi gli accordi già presi.[6][11][14]
  5. (religion) Saved, having attained eternal salvation.[6][11][16]

Preposition

  1. except, but, apart from: Sono venuti tutti salvo mio fratello.[6][16][14]
  2. Barring, unless there is: salvo imprevisti.[6]

Conjunction

  1. Salvo che, salvo se: except that, unless, salvo with the infinitive: except, but then: Dice di non volere aiuto, salvo poi lamentarsi.[1][16][6]

Word family

  • salvare
  • salvezza
  • salvifico
  • salvadanaio
  • salvagente
  • salvamento
  • salvacondotto

Usage notes

Sano e salvo means “safe and sound”;[6][11][14] in salvo “to safety, in a safe place” (mettersi in salvo), probably short for in luogo salvo[4], in northern use also “aside, in store”;[6][11][14] a man salva “freely, without restraint”, as in rubare a man salva.[6][11][14] A different dialect word salvo “dirty”, from Lombardic, is used around Arezzo and in Romagna (séluv).[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3327
  3. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b c Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3326
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
  14. ^ a b c d e f g Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  15. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  16. ^ a b c d Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  17. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 426