servo Italian · revision 37611

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=early 13th century, Elegia giudeo-italiana|origins=la servus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈsɛr.vo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''servo''' ''m'' (plural servi, feminine serva)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|servus|t=slave]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The Latin word is panromance: [[fr|serf]], [[oc|ser]], [[es|siervo]], [[pt|servo]], [[sc|servu]] and Old Romanian ⟨șerb⟩, and DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance noun with the same meaning.^(Nocentini 2010)^(DÉRom)^(REW 1935)

+

+ Its further origin is debated.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) DELI and Nocentini start from an original sense “guardian”, from a root meaning “to watch”, which also gave [[m|la|servō|t=to keep, watch over]] (the source of [[serbare]]).^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Michiel de Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*serwos|t=shepherd]] and [[ine-pro|*ser-wo-|t=guardian]], citing an Avestan compound for a sheep-dog; according to Helmut Rix the word turned pejorative and came to mean “slave” in Italy between 700 and 450 BC.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Nocentini explains that slavery was foreign to the Indo-European tradition, so each language adapted a word with another meaning.^(Nocentini 2010) The Oxford Latin Dictionary calls the origin doubtful and perhaps Etruscan.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in the ''Elegia giudeo-italiana'' of the early 13th century, with the sense “domestic servant”:^(DELI 1999) the speaker laments “e.mmo cu uno servo stao sola” (and now I am alone with one servant).^(GDLI|18, 786) GRADIT dates the word to the end of the 13th century.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “person in servitude, slave” is recorded in the 14th-century Italian Gregory the Great.^(DELI 1999) As an adjective, “not free, subject”, it is in Dante's “Ahi serva Italia, di dolore ostello” (Ah, enslaved Italy, inn of sorrow, ''Purgatorio'' 6) and in Petrarch.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(DEI|3465)

+

+ The polite formulas ''servo suo'' and ''servo vostro'' were common greetings;^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(GRADIT 2003) Tommaseo–Bellini also records ''far servo'' for a baby waving a greeting.^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)^(GRADIT 2003) ''Servo della gleba'' “serf” is recorded from 1804.^(Nocentini 2010) ''Servo muto'', a side table for serving oneself and later a valet stand for clothes, is a calque of English ''dumb-waiter'' (1775).^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Today the word for a domestic worker is ''domestico'' or ''cameriere'', and ''servo'' is mostly pejorative.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Early 13th century – The ''Elegia giudeo-italiana'' uses ''servo'' for a servant.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 14th century – The Italian Gregory the Great uses it for a person in servitude.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1775 – English ''dumb-waiter'', the model of ''servo muto'', is recorded.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1804 – ''Servo della gleba'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 20th century – ''Servo-'' appears as a prefix in technical compounds.^(DEI|3465)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(history)'' A person legally owned by or subject to another, a [[m|en|slave]] or [[m|en|serf]], as in ''servo della gleba''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # A domestic [[m|en|servant]] (now usually pejorative): ''Non sono il tuo servo!''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A person who is subservient to someone or something: ''servo della moda''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(dated)'' In polite greetings: ''servo suo'', your servant.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(religion)'' In names of religious orders and titles, as in ''Servi di Maria'' and ''servo di Dio'', a person who died in the odour of sanctity.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''servo muto'', a dumb-waiter; a valet stand for clothes.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(technology)'' The slave element of a servo system.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' Not free, subject, enslaved; also servile.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[serva]]

+ * [[servetta]]

+ * [[asservire]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[servigio]]

+ * [[servile]]

+ * [[servire]]

+ * [[servitù]]

+ * [[servizio]]

+ * [[servo-]]

+ * [[servitore]]

+ * [[servaggio]]

+ * [[serbare]]

+ * [[la|servus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Servo-'' is also a prefix of technical compounds, shortened from ''servomotore'': ''servofreno'' “servo brake”, ''servosterzo'' “power steering”.^(DEI|3465)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}