English
saveloy
Saveloy may come from English cervelat ‘Swiss smoked beef or pork sausage’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-1root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Italianc. 1300–presentcervellata1
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cervelat1
- English1500–presentcervelat1‘Swiss smoked beef or pork sausage’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1788saveloy1corruption of cervelat
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English saveloy
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1788, Hannah Glasse, Of Hogs-puddings, Sausages, &c.: “Savoloys. TAKE ſix pounds of young pork, free it…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ḱerh₂-Wiktionary, English saveloyroot named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
- Italianc. 1300–presentcervellataWiktionary, English saveloy
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400cervelatWiktionary, English saveloy
- English1500–presentcervelatWiktionary, English saveloy‘Swiss smoked beef or pork sausage’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1788saveloyWiktionary, English saveloy. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1788, Hannah Glasse, Of Hogs-puddings, Sausages, &c.: “Savoloys. TAKE ſix pounds of young pork, free it…”corruption of cervelat
The story
From a corruption of cervelat (‘Swiss smoked beef or pork sausage’) or French cervelas (‘type of thick, short sausage’) (perhaps influenced by Savoy (‘historical region in western Europe now shared between modern France, Italy, and Switzerland’)), both from Old French cervelat, from Italian cervellata (compare Italian cervelletto (‘cerebellum’), cervello (‘brain’), probably from the fact that the sausage was originally made from pork brains), from Old Milanese Lombard zervelada, from Latin cerebellum (‘brain; little brain’), from cerebrum (‘brain’) (from Proto-Italic *kerazrom, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (‘head, top; horn’)) + -ellum (suffix forming diminutives).
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂-
horn, cheer, hart, cerebral, crater, grail, migraine, corny, cornea, carotid, cairn, cornet, procrastinate, cranium, keratin, cerebellum, cerebrum, rother, 50 more
Today it means
noun A seasoned and smoked pork sausage, normally purchased ready-cooked.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “saveloy”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- / saveloy