savageyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[savage 词源字典]
savage: [13] A savage is etymologically someone who comes from the ‘woods’ – woodlands being anciently viewed as places of untamed nature, beyond the pale of civilized human society. The word comes via Old French sauvage from Vulgar Latin *salvāticus, an alteration of Latin silvāticus ‘of the woods, wild’. This was a derivative of silva ‘woods, forest’ (source of English sylvan [16]), a word of uncertain origin.
=> sylvan[savage etymology, savage origin, 英语词源]
savage (adj.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
mid-13c., "fierce, ferocious;" c. 1300, "wild, undomesticated, untamed" (of animals and places), from Old French sauvage, salvage "wild, savage, untamed, strange, pagan," from Late Latin salvaticus, alteration of silvaticus "wild," literally "of the woods," from silva "forest, grove" (see sylvan). Of persons, the meaning "reckless, ungovernable" is attested from c. 1400, earlier in sense "indomitable, valiant" (c. 1300).
savage (n.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"wild person," c. 1400, from savage (adj.).
savage (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
"to tear with the teeth, maul," 1880, from savage (adj.). Earlier "to act the savage" (1560s). Related: Savaged; savaging.