salutare

Forms

salūtāre n (genitive salūtāris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter singular of the adjective salūtāris (“healthful, saving”), used as a noun,^[1][2] which is from Latin salūs + -āris.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Tertullian, in his work on the resurrection of the dead, as a means of salvation.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Latin Bible and Christian writers it meant salvation or deliverance, and also the one who brings it, the Saviour.^[1][4] Wiktionary also records the wider senses of safety and of health and welfare.^[1]

In medieval Latin Salutare stood for Christ the Saviour: Du Cange cites the greeting formula of charters wishing the reader “salvation in the true Saviour” (salutem in vero Salutari).^[5] Old High German and Old Saxon glosses render it with words for salvation and healing.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for a means of salvation.^[2][3]
• 1204 – A charter of Bishop Wolfger of Passau wishes all the faithful “lasting salvation in the true Saviour”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, biblical) salvation, deliverance.^[1][4]
2. (Late Latin) A means of salvation.^[2]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) The Saviour.^[4][5]
4. Safety, security.^[1]
5. Health, welfare, prosperity.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre