salvare

Forms

salvare f (plural salvări)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Romanian salva (“to save”) + -re, the long infinitive of the verb used as a noun.^[2][3][1]

The verb salva is from Latin salvō (“to save”), a late Latin verb formed on salvus (“safe”), taken in the 19th century, also with Italian salvare as a model.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

MDA2 dates the first record to 1857, in Aristia's translation of Plutarch, where love is called a service of the gods „pentru... salvarea junilor” “for the saving of the young”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From the start the noun meant rescue from danger and, in religious use, salvation: Ghica writes of pious gifts „pentru salvarea sufletului” “for the salvation of the soul”.^[5] Barițiu's Hungarian dictionary of 1869 gives it among the equivalents of words for deliverance and ransom.^[6] The DLR records the narrower sense “liberation”, and the concrete one, a thing or person that saves.^[5]

In the 20th century it became the name of the emergency medical service: Scriban already has the service, its ambulance and its staff.^[7] From there it came to mean the ambulance itself.^[3][4] Computing added the sense “saving” of a file.^[8]

Timeline

• 1857 – the first record, in Aristia's Plutarch.^[4][5]
• 1869 – an equivalent of Hungarian words for deliverance in Barițiu's dictionary.^[6]
• 1939 – the emergency medical service and its ambulance, in Scriban.^[7]
• 2010 – the computing sense “saving” of data.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. rescue, saving from danger; also a thing, being or circumstance that saves: colac de salvare “lifebuoy”.^[3][9][1]
2. (religion, dated) salvation of the soul.^[5][10]
3. The emergency medical service that gives first aid.^[3][4]
4. (colloquial) An ambulance.^[3][1]
5. (computing) The saving of data.^[8]

Related words

• salva
• salvator
• mântuire

Usage notes

De salvare means “life-saving”, as in barcă de salvare “lifeboat”.^[4][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. salva
3. ^ a b c d e f DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 973
4. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 752
5. ^ a b c d e Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. salvare
6. ^ a b Barițiu, George (1869), Dictionariu unguresc-romanescu, Brașov, p. 499
7. ^ a b Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1151
8. ^ a b c Dimitrescu, Florica (1997), Dicționar de cuvinte recente, 2nd ed., București: Logos (with the 3rd ed., 2013, in CLRE), p. s.v. salvare
9. ^ a b Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 4, 8
10. ^ Șăineanu, Lazăr (1929), Dicționar universal al limbei române, 6th ed., Craiova: Scrisul Românesc, p. 561