Related shifts
| ID | Relation type | Meaning 1 | Direction | Meaning 2 |
| ACCEPTED Realization 1 (ID: 52716) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Czech | |
| lexeme | servus | |
| meaning 1 | (obsolete) servant | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | hi | |
| reference | SSJČ | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 2 (ID: 52721) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Complex derivation | |
| language | Hungarian | |
| lexeme 1 | szolgája + alázatos | |
| lexeme 2 | alászolgája | |
| meaning 1 | your servant | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | (dated) hello; good buy | |
| reference | Zaicz 2006 | |
| comment | calque of Latin servus humillimus. First attested in 1793 Károly Gerstner, editor, Új magyar etimológiai szótár [New Etymological Dictionary of Hungarian] (ÚESz.), Online edition (beta version), Budapest: MTA Research Institute for Linguistics / Hungarian Research Centre for Linguistics, 2011–2025. https://uesz.nytud.hu/index.html?displaymode=web&searchmode=exact&searchstr=al%C3%A1szolg%C3%A1ja |
|
| ACCEPTED Realization 3 (ID: 52714) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Borrowing | |
| language 1 | Latin | |
| language 2 | German | |
| lexeme | servus | |
| meaning 1 | servant, slave | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | (Bavaria, Austria, South Tyrol, chiefly informal) hello, hi; goodbye, bye, farewell | Seine Blicke kreuzten sich mit denen seines Schwagers, der Postbeamter war und eben mit dem Postzuge von der entgegengesetzten Seite in die Station einfuhr. "Servus, Edi! Wohin, wohin?" (1894 February 14, “Ein Halodri.”, in Österreichische Volks-Zeitung, number 44) 'His eyes met those of his brother-in-law, who was a post official and at just that moment arrived at the station with a post train coming from the opposite direction. "Hello, Edi! Where to, where to?' Schon steht er an meinem Tisch und hält mir die Hand entgegen. »Horst Brettschneider. Servus, du. Im ersten Moment habe ich geglaubt, du seist die Inge.« (2021, Eli Voss, Mit fünfzig erwartest du Meer) 'In the blink of an eye he is standing next to my table and is offering me his hand. "Horst Brettschneider. Hi, you. At first I thought you were Inge".' Servus, rief Ludwig und rannte davon (1998, Martin Walser, Ein springender Brunnen) 'Bye, Ludwig called, and ran off' |
| reference | DWDS English Wiktionary | |
| comment | An ellipsis from the commoners’ greeting once said to feudal lords, "servus humillimus [, Domine spectabilis]", in Latin meaning "(I am your) most humble servant[, (O/my) noble lord]". | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 4 (ID: 52715) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Borrowing | |
| language 1 | Latin | |
| language 2 | Bavarian | |
| lexeme 1 | servus | |
| lexeme 2 | servas, seas | |
| meaning 1 | servant, slave | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | hello; good buy | |
| reference | English Wiktionary | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 5 (ID: 52717) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Borrowing | |
| language 1 | Latin | |
| language 2 | Hungarian | |
| lexeme 1 | servus | |
| lexeme 2 | szervusz | |
| meaning 1 | servant | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | hello; good buy | |
| reference | Zaicz 2006 | |
| comment | Several shortened versions of szervusz remain popular, like szevasz, szeva, szia, and szió ( http://www.nyest.hu/hirek/latin-szolgak ) | |
| ACCEPTED Realization 7 (ID: 52719) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Borrowing | |
| language 1 | Latin | |
| language 2 | Croatian | |
| lexeme 1 | servus | |
| lexeme 2 | sèrvus | |
| meaning 1 | servant | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | hello; good buy | |
| reference | English Wiktionary | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 8 (ID: 52720) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Borrowing | |
| language 1 | Latin | |
| language 2 | Slovak | |
| lexeme | servus | |
| meaning 1 | servant | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | hello | |
| reference | KSSJ | |
| comment | ||
| ACCEPTED Realization 9 (ID: 52713) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Polysemy | |
| language | Swedish | |
| lexeme | tjänare | |
| meaning 1 | servant | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | (colloquial) hey, yo (a colloquial greeting) | – Tjänare, förlåt att jag stör dej i semesterupptakten. (1980, Ulla Trenter, Skyddsänglarna) Hi, I’m sorry to bother you right in the beginning of holidays. |
| reference | SAOB English Wiktionary | |
| comment | Ellipsis of mjuka tjänare, in turn clipping of ödmjuka tjänare (“humble servant”), from phrases such as jag är eder ödmjuka tjänare (”I am your humble servant”) |
|
| ACCEPTED Realization 10 (ID: 52712) | ||
|---|---|---|
| type | Borrowing | |
| language 1 | Venetian | |
| language 2 | Italian | |
| lexeme 1 | sciavo | |
| lexeme 2 | ciao | |
| meaning 1 | servant, slave | |
| direction | → | |
| meaning 2 | hello; good buy | |
| reference | Prati Vocabolario Treccani | |
| comment | from Venetan s-ciao, sciavo (“slave”) (in particular the expression s-ciao vostro (literally “(I am) your slave”), in essence meaning "I am at your service", or "your humble servant"), from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”) (whence also standard Italian schiavo); in the Venetan language originally pronounced /stʃaʊ/ |
|
Latin servus as greeting comes from an ellipsis of a Latin expression servus humillimus, domine spectabilis, meaning "[your] most humble servant, [my] noble lord". Use of this expression is roughly coincident with the boundaries of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. It is especially popular in Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania (mostly in Transylvania), as well as in southern parts of Germany (Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Palatinate, middle and southern Hesse), northern Croatia, eastern Slovenia (mostly in Slovenian Styria), and possibly western Ukraine. It may be rarely used in the Czech Republic and Poland (where it is considered an archaism, not used in common speech). The word may be used as a greeting, a parting salutation, or as both, depending on the region and context.