serv- (slave)

(Latin: servire, to serve, to be a slave; slave; slavery)

From Latin servire, to be a slave, to serve; from servus, slave, which is an Etruscan loan word. Of course, the modern use of "serve" has gone beyond the "slavery" aspect, but we are considering the etymology of the words which apparently came from the original idea of "slavery".

This Latin serv- is not related to another serv-, -serve which means "to save, to preserve".