serbare

Forms

serbare (first-person singular present sèrbo, first-person singular past historic serbài, past participle serbàto, auxiliary avére)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin servāre (“to keep, watch over”).^[2][3][4][1] The Tuscan sound change of /rv/ to /rb/ gave the Italian /b/, as in nerbo from Latin nervus, corbo and cerbio.^[5][6][7] The unchanged Latin form survives as the learned servare.^[1]

The same verb gave Occitan servar and Catalan servar, and Romanian sărba (“to keep a holiday”).^[3][8]

DELI, GRADIT and Gabrielli derive servō probably from servus (“slave; guardian”),^[2][4][9] and Nocentini takes servus in its original sense of a boy who guards the sheep.^[3] De Vaan reports Rix's view that Proto-Italic *serwo- first meant “guard, shepherd” and only later “slave”, and that the verb comes from an older noun meaning “observation, heed”; the stem goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ser-, also found in Avestan.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294, with the sense of putting something aside in a safe place to use it in due time;^[2][5] DEI names Bono Giamboni in the 13th century.^[2][5] In the Novellino a man says he will keep a cake and give it to his hostess.^[11]

Semantic evolution

From putting things aside the verb widened to keeping, maintaining and guarding in general, recorded before 1348 in Giovanni Villani, and the reflexive serbarsi “to keep oneself, remain” appears before 1556 in Luigi Alamanni.^[2] Figurative uses for feelings and promises followed: to harbour gratitude or a grudge, to keep a secret or one's word.^[4][12] Older Italian also had serbare fuori “to except”, used by Ariosto, and the sense “to delay”.^[5][13]

Tommaseo cites the proverb Quando il fico serba il fico, mal villan serba il panico, on an early cold that keeps figs from ripening and spoils the harvest.^[14] Treccani notes that the verb is still in everyday use in Tuscany but sounds literary or elevated elsewhere, where conservare and tenere da parte are used.^[15]

Among the derivatives serbatoio, from Late Latin servatorium, took the sense of a tank for liquids or gas in 1815 and of a firearm's magazine in 1936.^[2][3]

Timeline

• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses serbare “to put aside”.^[2][4]
• Before 1348 – Giovanni Villani uses it for “to keep, guard”.^[2]
• Before 1556 – Luigi Alamanni uses the reflexive serbarsi.^[2]
• 1548 – The noun serbo is recorded in Agnolo Firenzuola.^[2]
• 1815 – Serbatoio “tank” is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To put or keep something aside, especially to use it later: Ho serbato un po' di torta per te.^[4][12][13]
2. (transitive, figurative) To keep or preserve in the mind, to hold on to: serbare una speranza, serbare un bel ricordo.^[4][12][7]
3. (transitive, figurative) To go on feeling something towards someone; to keep faith with: serbare rancore, serbare la parola data.^[4][12]
4. (transitive, literary) To reserve a task, a privilege or a fate for someone.^[4][9]
5. (reflexive, serbarsi) To remain, to keep oneself in a certain state: serbarsi fedele.^[7][15]

Word family

• serbatoio
• serbo
• serbatore
• serbabile
• serbanza
• serbevole
• serbamento

Related words

• servare
• conservare
• servo

Usage notes

In Tuscany the verb is part of everyday speech; elsewhere it is felt as literary or formal.^[15][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3458
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 401
7. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli
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. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
12. ^ 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
13. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)