English
servitute
Servitute comes from Latin servitus ‘slavery, servitude’, and goes back to Proto-Italic *serwos ‘guardian?’.
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*serwos1‘guardian?’reconstructed
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEservos2
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservus1‘a slave’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservitus3‘slavery, servitude’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500servitute3‘Servitude or bondage’
- Englishtodayservitute3
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin servitus
- 2 Wiktionary, Latin servus
- 3 Wiktionary, English servitute
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*serwosWiktionary, Latin servitus‘guardian?’reconstructed
- Old Latinc. 700–75 BCEservosWiktionary, Latin servus
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservusWiktionary, Latin servitus‘a slave’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEservitusWiktionary, English servitute‘slavery, servitude’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500servituteWiktionary, English servitute‘Servitude or bondage’
- EnglishtodayservituteWiktionary, English servitute
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to guard, take care’
sort, series, stream, hero, desert, insert, assertion, sermon, heresy, exert, concierge, sorcery, sorcerer, assertive, heretic, sark, strudel, sere, 32 more
through Proto-Italic *serwos ‘guardian?’
through Old Latin servos
through Latin servus ‘a slave’
serve, conservative, reservoir, conservatism, observant, serviceable, conservator, serf, 10 more
Today it means
noun —
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “servitute”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin servitus, Latin servus. 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-Italic *serwos / servitute