savage English · revision 10309

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1250|origins=fro sauvage|origins=la silvaticus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈsævɪd͡ʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is Middle English sauvage, savage, [[bor|fro|sauvage|t=wild, untamed, strange, pagan]], salvage (Anglo-Norman savage),^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) from Late Latin salvāticus, an alteration by vowel assimilation of Latin silvāticus, wild, of the woods,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) from silva, a forest, grove (see [[sylvan]]).^(Etymonline)^(Cresswell 2021)^(NODE 1998) By its origin, savages live in the woods.^(Cresswell 2021)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Of animals, fierce, ferocious: about 1250 in Barnhart, the mid-13th century in Etymonline, and late 12th century as a surname;^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) wild, untamed, about 1300.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Of land, wild and uncultivated, it is from about 1300,^(Etymonline) and of plants from 1422.^(OED 1989) Of persons it first meant indomitable or valiant, also fierce and cruel,^(Etymonline) and the extended sense uncivilized, barbarous, is first recorded in Gower's ''Confessio Amantis''.^(Barnhart 1988) Of peoples regarded as uncivilized it is from 1588.^(OED 1989) In heraldry, naked or clothed in foliage, it is from the 1570s,^(Etymonline) and the -l- was often restored in 16th- and 17th-century spelling.^(Etymonline)^(SOED 2002) The noun, a wild person, is from about 1400,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) and a brutal or cruel person, civilized or not, from about 1600.^(Etymonline) The verb, to attack savagely, is from 1563,^(Barnhart 1988) and to maul with the teeth, of animals, from 1838.^(Etymonline) In the late 18th century Rousseau imagined the ''noble savage'', uncorrupted by civilization.^(Cresswell 2021) ''Savagery'' is from 1595, in Shakespeare.^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1250 – ferocious.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1300 – wild, untamed.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1400 – a wild person (noun).^(Etymonline)

+ * 1563 – to attack savagely (verb).^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1588 – uncivilized.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1595 – savagery.^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * 1838 – to maul.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Fierce and violent; [[ferocious]] or brutal.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Wild and untamed.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # Of terrain, rugged and uncultivated.^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(offensive, old-fashioned)'' Uncivilized or primitive.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(offensive, old-fashioned)'' A person regarded as primitive or uncivilized.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A brutal or vicious person.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To attack ferociously, as an animal does.^(AHD)

+ # To criticize without restraint or pity.^(AHD)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[savagely]]

+ * [[savageness]]

+ * [[savagery]]

+ * [[savagism]]

+ * [[semisavage]]

+ * [[unsavage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[noble savage]]

+ * [[sylvan]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}