salvador

Forms

salvador m (plural salvadores, feminine salvadora, feminine plural salvadoras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin salvātor (“saviour”), written Old Galician-Portuguese salvador in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] Wiktionary notes that within Portuguese it can be read as salvar with the suffix -dor.^[1]

The same Latin word is Galician salvador, Spanish salvador, Catalan salvador, French sauveur, Italian salvatore and Romanian salvator.^[1][5] The Latin noun is formed on salvō (“to save”) with the agent suffix -tor; the verb comes from salvus (“safe, unharmed”).^[1] Both the verb and the noun are late: classical Latin said servātor, and Christian writers used the noun to translate Ancient Greek σωτήρ (sōtḗr) and the name of Jesus.^[6] Augustine remarks that neither the verb nor the noun was Latin before the Saviour came.^[6] De Vaan traces the adjective to Proto-Indo-European *slH-u- (“whole”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Latin charters use it first as a name: Houaiss records the personal name Saluadoris in 947, Salvador in 976 and Saluador for Jesus Christ in 1064.^[2] In the 13th-century Cantigas de Santa Maria the Virgin is Madre do Salvador “Mother of the Saviour”, and Houaiss dates the adjective to the same century.^[8][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The dictionaries define it as an adjective, “that saved”, and as a name of Christ: Barbosa (1611) renders it by Latin servator and salvator, and Morais (1789) adds that o Salvador by antonomasia is Jesus Christ.^[9][10] Today it is both adjective and noun, for anyone who saves, protects or rescues, with a feminine salvadora.^[2][11][1] Brazilian Portuguese has the ironic salvador da pátria for someone expected to solve an impossible situation.^[2][12] The Porto dictionary and Wiktionary also record an old sense, an official who gave coins their final examination.^[13][1]

The word became a personal name of religious origin and a place name.^[14] Nascentes reports that the city of Bahia was founded under Tomé de Sousa with the name Salvador as King John III ordered, and that the Central American country was so named by Pedro de Alvarado in 1524 in honour of the Saviour of the World.^[14]

Timeline

• 947 – the personal name Saluadoris in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 1064 – Saluador for Jesus Christ in a Latin charter.^[2]
• 13th century – Madre do Salvador in the Cantigas de Santa Maria; first record of the adjective.^[8][2]
• 1524 – Pedro de Alvarado names El Salvador.^[14]
• 1611 – Barbosa's dictionary renders Salvador by servator and salvator.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais defines the adjective and the name of Christ.^[10]
• 1871 – Vieira enters it as adjective and noun.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That saves or has saved: uma ideia salvadora.^[2][16][11]
2. That protects or supports.^[2][17]

Noun

1. A saviour, someone who saves others from danger or ruin.^[2][11][1]
2. A liberator or protector.^[17][1]
3. Someone who pulls another out of a crisis, risking their own life.^[2]
4. (religion, with a capital) Jesus Christ, the Saviour.^[2][11]
5. (obsolete) An official who gave coins their final examination.^[13][1]

Related words

• salvar
• salvação
• salvo
• Latin salvātor
• Spanish salvador

Usage notes

Salvador da pátria “saviour of the fatherland” is used in Brazil, often ironically, for someone thought able to solve a very complicated situation.^[2][12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salvador
3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. salvador
4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. salvador
5. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. salvador
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. salvator
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. salvador
9. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salvador
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 371
11. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. salvador
12. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. salvador
13. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8268
14. ^ a b c Nascentes, Antenor (1952), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 2: Nomes próprios, Rio de Janeiro, p. 305
15. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 390
16. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. salvador
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. salvador