servus

• servas, seas

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]".

• IPA^(key): /ˈse̞ɐ̯vus/, /ˈse̞ɐ̯βus/
• Hyphenation: ser‧vus

servus

1. (informal) hello, hi
2. (informal) bye, goodbye

• nå servus

• serbus (rare)

The greeting evolved by the commoners greeting their lords with the words servus humillimus, Domine spectabilis, meaning your humble servant, my noble lord. No subservience is implied in its modern use.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛrvus]

servus

1. (colloquial) hi, hiya

   Synonym: ahoj

2. (colloquial) cheerio, bye, so long, ta-ta

   Synonym: ahoj

• “servus”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “servus”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989

• IPA^(key): /ˈservus/
• Rhymes: -ervus
• Syllabification: ser‧vus

servus

1. conditional of servi

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]".

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛrvus/ ~ IPA^(key): /ˈzɛɐ̯vus/

• Audio:

  (file)

servus

1. (chiefly Southern Germany, Austria, informal) hello, hi

   Synonyms: hallo, hi, hey, grüß Gott, moin

   • 1894 February 14, “Ein Halodri.”, in Österreichische Volks-Zeitung‎^[1], number 44:

     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?"

     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?"

   • 2021, Eli Voss, Mit fünfzig erwartest du Meer, Penguin Random House, →ISBN:

     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.«

     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".

2. (chiefly Southern Germany, Austria, informal) goodbye, bye, farewell
   • 1980 [1954], Hermann Broch, chapter 9, in Die Verzauberung‎^[2], Suhrkamp:

     »Vielleicht treffen Sie mich dort«, flüsterte Suck. Lax drehte sich um: »Servus, Suck«, sagte er und schlug ihm auf die Schulter, »heirat' bald.« Doch als wir weiterfuhren, da war er finster und nachdenklich.

     "Maybe you'll meet me there", Suck whispered. Lax turned around: "Goodbye, Suck", he said, and dropped his hand on his shoulder, "marry soon." But when we traveled on, his mood was dark and pensive.

   • 1998, Martin Walser, Ein springender Brunnen‎^[3], Suhrkamp, →ISBN, page 84:

     Servus, rief Ludwig und rannte davon.

     Bye, Ludwig called, and ran off.

3. (as a toast) cheers

   Synonym: prost

• No subservience is implied in modern use, and the origin of the term is not commonly known. Educated usage may be sincere, jocular or ironic.
• This salutation is used in Southern Germany and throughout the former Austria-Hungary (see cognates on this page), in varying frequency throughout those areas.
• Despite the formal origins of the term, its usage is now chiefly, but not exclusively informal; the degree of decorum is dependent on context of region, dialect, class, or even village.

• Service

• “servus” in Duden online
• “servus” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

See szervusz.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛrvus]
• Hyphenation: ser‧vus
• Rhymes: -us

servus

1. (archaic) alternative form of szervusz: hello; goodbye

• szervusz in Géza Bárczi, László Országh, et al., editors, A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára [The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language] (ÉrtSz.), Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN.

• servos (archaic)

From Old Latin servos, from Proto-Italic *serwos (“guardian”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser-wo-s (“guardian”), possibly from *ser- (“watch over, protect”) +‎ *-wós. Cognate with servō, Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (haraⁱti, “he heeds, protects”),^[1] Northern Luri هیر (hir, “protects”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛr.wʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛr.vus]
• Hyphenation: ser‧vus

servus m (genitive servī, feminine serva); second declension

1. a slave
   • Captivi ("the captives") by Plautus (English and Latin text)

     Quem patrem, qui servos est?

     Father! What do you mean, when he’s a slave?

2. a serf
3. a servant

• Until the Augustan period, servos was more common.

Second-declension noun.

• ancula (> ancilla)
• anculus
• sclavus
• familiāris

• “servus²”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “servus²”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette: “1,432/2”
• “seruus¹” on page 1,748/1 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “servus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 967/2

servus (feminine serva, neuter servum); first/second-declension adjective

1. slavish, servile (to the senses or to authority)
2. (of lands, buildings) subject or liable to servitude

First/second-declension adjective.

• “servus¹”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “servus¹”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette: “1,432/2”
• “seruus²” on page 1,748 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)

• “servus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “servus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "servus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[4], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to act the rôle of a slave, pander: agere servum, lenonem
    
  • a good, useful slave: frugi (opp. nequam) servus
    
  • a degraded, servile condition: infima fortuna or condicio servorum
    
  • (ambiguous) to examine slaves by torture: de servis quaerere (in dominum)
    
• “servus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “servus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

• versus

Borrowed from German servus. Greeting found throughout the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.

• IPA^(key): /ˈser.vus/

servus (informal, Transylvania, Maramureș, Bukovina)

1. hi, hello
2. see you (later)

• serbus

Borrowed from German servus, ultimately from Latin servus (“slave”).

sèrvus (Cyrillic spelling сѐрвус) (Croatia, dated)

1. hello
2. good bye

• bok (Croatian), ćao, zdravo

The greeting evolved by the commoners greeting their lords with the words servus humillimus, Domine spectabilis, meaning your humble servant, my noble lord. No subservience is implied in its modern use.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛrvus/

servus

1. hello
2. hi
3. howdy

• “servus”, in Slovníkový portál Jazykovedného ústavu Ľ. Štúra SAV [Dictionary portal of the Ľ. Štúr Institute of Linguistics, Slovak Academy of Science] (in Slovak), https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk, 2003–2026