salvo

Forms

salvo (feminine salva, masculine plural salvos, feminine plural salvas)^[1] Houaiss records saluo (1391) and ssaluo (14th century) beside salvo.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin salvus (“safe, unharmed, whole”), written Old Galician-Portuguese salvo in the oldest texts.^[2][3][4][1] In use it is also the past participle of salvar: the glossary of the Cantigas de Santa Maria lists it as participle and adjective, and DELPo calls it an irregular participle of the verb.^[5][6] The verb is salvō (“to save”), an Ecclesiastical Latin verb formed on the adjective.^[7][1]

The same Latin adjective is Galician salvo, Spanish salvo, Catalan salv, Italian salvo and French sauf, and in Italian and French too it serves as a preposition “except”.^[8][1]

Wiktionary derives the Latin word from Proto-Italic *salawos, from Proto-Indo-European *solh₂- (“whole”).^[1] De Vaan reconstructs it as *slH-u- (“whole”) and compares Ancient Greek ὅλος (hólos, “whole”) and the Oscan and Umbrian words for “whole, healthy”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates both the adjective and the preposition to the 13th century.^[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell how the Virgin obtained from her Son that a wicked knight should be salvo “saved”, and how a lady came out of a fire salva “unharmed”.^[5] In the cantigas d'escarnho en salvo means “with impunity” or “without danger”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense “saved, redeemed” and the everyday “safe, unharmed” run side by side from the first texts.^[5][2] Bluteau (1712–1728) defines the adjective as coming out of danger without harm, and also as “intact, unchanged”, as in a right that remains salvo; this is the sense from which “excepted, reserved” and the preposition “except” come.^[10][2] Folqman (1755) already lists salvo “except, but”.^[11] Vieira records the old formula salva a sua paz, said so as not to give offence, and the phrases em salvo and posto em salvo.^[12]

In Brazil salvo is also the safe spot in a children's game of tag, where the player being chased cannot be caught.^[13]

Timeline

• 13th century – salvo “saved” and salva “unharmed” in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.^[5][2]
• 1391 – the spelling saluo.^[2]
• 1475 – the Vida de Santa Maria Egipcíaca (copied 1475–1500) uses the word.^[14]
• 1712 – Bluteau defines the adjective.^[10]
• 1755 – Folqman lists salvo “except”.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as free from risk and whole.^[15]

Meanings

Adjective

1. safe, out of danger; unharmed: Os passageiros chegaram todos salvos.^[2][16][1]
2. Intact, preserved, untouched.^[2][4]
3. (religion) saved, having attained eternal grace.^[2][4]
4. Reserved, respected; left out, excepted.^[2][16]
5. Favourable, salutary.^[2][16]

Noun

1. A survivor, one who has escaped a danger, illness or accident.^[2]

Preposition

1. except, save, apart from: Gostei de tudo, salvo do final.^[2][16][1]
2. salvo se unless.^[4]

Word family

• salvo-conduto

Related words

• salvar
• salvação
• Latin salvus
• Galician salvo

Usage notes

A salvo and em salvo mean “in safety, out of danger”.^[2][17] Salvo seja! is said to wish that the harm one is talking about may not befall the speaker or the hearer.^[17]

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 e f g h i j k l m n o Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salvo
3. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. salvo
4. ^ 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. salvo
5. ^ a b c d e 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. salvo
6. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. salvo
7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. salvar
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salvo
11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. salvo
12. ^ 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, 393
13. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. salvo
14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. salvo
15. ^ 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, 372
16. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. salvo
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. salvo