servus

Alternative forms

• servos (archaic)

Etymology

From Old Latin servos, from Proto-Italic *serwos (“guardian”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”). Cognate with servō, Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (haraⁱti, “he heeds, protects”).^[1] By surface analysis, Proto-Indo-European *ser- +‎ -vus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈser.u̯us/, [ˈs̠ɛru̯ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈser.vus/, [ˈsɛrvus]
• Hyphenation: ser‧vus

Noun

servus m (genitive servī, feminine serva); second declension

1. a slave
   • Captivi ("the captives") by Plautus (English and Latin text)

     Quem patrem, qui servos est?

     Father! What do you mean, when he’s a slave?

2. a serf
3. a servant

Adjective

servus (feminine serva, neuter servum); first/second-declension adjective

1. slavish, servile (to the senses or to authority)
2. (of lands, buildings) subject or liable to servitude

References

• “servus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “servus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "servus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to act the rôle of a slave, pander: agere servum, lenonem
    
  • a good, useful slave: frugi (opp. nequam) servus
    
  • a degraded, servile condition: infima fortuna or condicio servorum
    
  • (ambiguous) to examine slaves by torture: de servis quaerere (in dominum)
    
• “servus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “servus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Anagrams

• versus

Etymology

Borrowed from German servus. Greeting found throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈser.vus/

Interjection

servus (informal, Transylvania, Maramureș, Bukovina)

1. hi, hello
2. see you (later)

Alternative forms

• serbus

Etymology

From German servus, ultimately from Latin servus.

Interjection

sèrvus (Cyrillic spelling сѐрвус)

1. (Croatia, dated) hello
2. (Croatia, dated) good bye

Etymology

The greeting evolved by the commoners greeting their lords with the words servus humillimus, Domine spectabilis, meaning your humble servant, my noble lord. No subservience is implied in its modern use.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛrvus/

Interjection

servus

1. hello
2. hi
3. howdy

Further reading

• “servus”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2025