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Origin and history of conserve

conserve(v.)

"to keep safe, preserve from loss or decay," late 14c., from Old French conserver (9c.), from Latin conservare "to keep, preserve, keep intact, guard," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see com-), + servare "keep watch, maintain" (from PIE root *ser- (1) "to protect"). Related: Conserved; conserving.

As a noun (often conserves) from late 14c. as "that which preserves;" early 15c. as "a confection, something preserved with sugar, etc."

also from late 14c.

Entries linking to conserve

com-

word-forming element usually meaning "with, together," from Latin com, archaic form of classical Latin cum "together, together with, in combination," from PIE *kom- "beside, near, by, with" (compare Old English ge-, German ge-). The prefix in Latin sometimes was used as an intensive.

Before vowels and aspirates, it is reduced to co-; before -g-, it is assimilated to cog- or con-; before -l-, assimilated to col-; before -r-, assimilated to cor-; before -c-, -d-, -j-, -n-, -q-, -s-, -t-, and -v-, it is assimilated to con-, which was so frequent that it often was used as the normal form.

*ser-(1)

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to protect." It might form all or part of: conservation; conservative; conserve; observance; observatory; observe; preserve; reservation; reserve; reservoir.

It might also be the source of: Avestan haurvaiti "to guard;" Latin servare "to guard, keep, watch;" Old Church Slavonic xraniti "to guard, protect;" Old High German gi-sarwi "armor, equipment," Old English searu "art, skill; wile, deceit."

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    preserve
    late 14c., preserven, "keep safe or free from harm," also "act so as to insure that something does not occur," from Anglo-French preservare, Old French preserver, Medieval Latin preservare "keep, preserve," all from Late Latin praeservare "guard beforehand," from Latin prae "befo
    husband
    Old English husbonda "male head of a household, master of a house, householder," probably from Old Norse husbondi "master of the house," literally "house-dweller," from hus "house" (see house (n.)) + bondi "householder, dweller, freeholder, peasant," from buandi, present particip
    maintain
    c. 1300, maintenen, "to support, uphold, aid;" also "hold fast, keep in possession, preserve from capture or loss," from Anglo-French meintenir (Old French maintenir, 12c.) "keep (a wife), sustain; persevere in, practice continually," from Latin manu tenere "hold in the hand," fr
    marmalade
    1530s, "preserve or confection of pulpy consistence made from quince," from French marmelade, from Portuguese marmelada "quince jelly, marmalade," from marmelo "quince," by dissimilation from Latin melimelum "sweet apple," originally "fruit of an apple tree grafted onto quince,"
    jelly
    late 14c., gelee, gelle, gelly, "semisolid substance from animal or vegetable material, spiced and used in cooking; chopped meat or fish served in such a jelly," from Old French gelee "a jelly," also "a frost," noun use of fem. past participle of geler "to congeal, to freeze," fr
    embalm
    late 14c., embaumen "to apply balm or ointment; to embalm a corpse," from Old French embaumer, earlier embausmer, "preserve (a corpse) with spices," from assimilated form of en- "in" (see en- (1)) + baume "balm" (see balm) + verbal suffix -er. Balm in Middle English also had a sp
    hold
    Middle English holden, earlier halden, from Old English haldan (Anglian), healdan (West Saxon), "to contain; to grasp; to retain (liquid, etc.); to observe, fulfill (a custom, etc.); to have as one's own; to have in mind (of opinions, etc.); to possess, control, rule; to detain,
    jam
    "to press tightly" (trans.), 1719; "to become wedged" (intrans.), 1706, of unknown origin, perhaps a variant of Middle English cham "to bite upon something; gnash the teeth" (late 14c.; see champ (v.)). Of a malfunction in the moving parts of machinery by 1851. Sense of "cause in
    sweat
    Middle English sweten, from Old English swætan "perspire, excrete moisture from the skin," also "toil, labor, work hard," from Proto-Germanic *swaitjan "to sweat," from the source of sweat (n.). Compare Frisian swette, Dutch zweeten, Danish svede, German schwitzen. The meaning "b

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