The corpus record — Latin

servus1

servus1 · adj

slavish

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Fragments 1 · 151.52/10k
Captivi 31 · 35.81/10k
Pro M. Tullio 10 · 29.1/10k
Amphitruo 23 · 23.4/10k
Pro Rege Deiotaro 9 · 23.05/10k
Paradoxa stoicorum ad M. Brutum 8 · 18.58/10k
Pseudolus 15 · 13.55/10k
De haruspicum responso in P. Clodium in Senatu Habita 10 · 13.29/10k
Poenulus 14 · 12.69/10k
Menaechmi 12 · 12.63/10k
Asinaria 10 · 12.38/10k
Pro T. Annio Milone 13 · 12.36/10k

Densest 12 of 182 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. servus — Lewis & Short

servus, a, um, adj.referred by the ancients to servo: servi ex eo appellati sunt, quod imperatores servos vendere, ac per hoc servare, nec occidere solent, Just. Inst. 1, 3, 3; but prob. from root svar-; Lith. svaras, a weight; cf. Gr. e(/rma; O. H. Germ. swari, burdensome; Germ. schwer, heavy; cf. also serius,

I slavish, servile, subject.

I In gen.

A With homo (= 2. servus; mostly ante-class.): non decet superbum esse hominem servom, Plaut. As. 2, 4, 64; id. Mil. 2, 6, 80; id. Stich. 1, 2, 1; 5, 4, 10; id. Ep. 1, 1, 58; 3, 1, 7; Ter. Phorm. 2, 1, 62.—

B With other subjects (not freq. till after the Aug. per.): octo milia liberorum servorumque capitum sunt capta, Liv. 29, 29: corpori, quod servum fortuna erat, vim fecit, id. 38, 24: Graeciae urbes servae et vectigales (opp. liberae), id. 34, 58: civitas, id. 25, 31: Lacedaemon, id. 34, 41: serva manus, Ov. F. 6, 558: o imitatores, servum pecus! Hor. Ep. 1, 19, 19: serva aqua, i. e. servorum, Ov. Am. 1, 6, 26; cf. Petr. 71: servam operam, linguam liberam herus me jussit habere, Plaut. Pers. 2, 4, 9: omnia non serva et maxime regna hostilia ducunt (Romani), Sall. H. 4, 61, 17 Dietsch: reges serva omnia et subjecta imperio suo esse velint, Liv. 37, 54; 42, 46: statu libera quicquid peperit, hoc servum heredis est, Dig. 40, 7, 16.—

II Jurid. t. t., of buildings, lands, etc., liable to certain burdens, subject to a servitude: libera (praedia) meliore jure sunt quam serva, Cic. Agr. 3, 2, 9: fundus, Dig. 8, 6, 6: aedes, ib. 8, 2, 35: area, ib. 8, 2, 34 al.; cf. servio, II. B., and servitus, II B.—Hence,

2. servus — Lewis & Short

servus (-ŏs), i, m., and serva, ae, f.,

I a slave, servant, serf, serving-man; a female slave, maid-servant.

A Masc. (syn.: famulus, mancipium), Enn. ap. Non. 471, 19 (Com. v. 5 Vahl.); Cato ap. Gell. 10, 3, 17: servi, ancillae, id. ap. Fest. s. v. prohibere, p. 234 Müll.; cf.: Ulixes domi etiam contumelias servorum ancillarumque pertulit, Cic. Off. 1, 31, 113: servus armiger, Plaut. Cas. 2, 3, 39: dotalis, id. As. 1, 1, 72: frugi, id. Aul. 4, 1, 1: graphicus et quantivis pretii, id. Ep. 3, 3, 29: nequam et malus, id. Poen. 5, 2, 70: scelestus, infidelis, id. Trin. 2, 4, 126: peculiosus, id. Rud. 1, 2, 24: peculiaris, id. Capt. prol. 20: fallax, Ov. Am. 1, 15, 17: servus a pedibus, Cic. Att. 8, 5, 1: a manu, Suet. Caes. 74: aliquem servum sibi habere ad manum, Cic. de Or. 3, 60, 225: publici, public slaves, S. C. ap. Front. Aquaed. 100; Varr. ap. Gell. 13, 13, 4; Cic. Phil. 8, 8, 24; Liv. 9, 29 fin. et saep.; cf. Dig. 1, 5, 5.—Prov.: quot servi, tot hostes, Sinn. Capito ap. Fest. s. v. quot, p. 261 Müll.; cf. Sen. Ep. 47, 3; Macr. S. 1, 11 med.—Esp.: poenae servus, a slave of punishment, i. e. condemned to servile labor, Just. Inst. 1, 12, 3; Dig. 48, 19, 17.—

2 Trop.: vidit enim eos, qui se judiciorum dominos dici volebant, harum cupiditatum esse servos, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 22, § 58: neque tam servi illi dominorum, quam tu libidinum, id. ib. 2, 4, 50, § 112: omnium libidinum servi, Plin. Ep. 8, 22, 1: adulescens libertorum suorum libertus servorumque servus, Vell. 2, 73, 1: servus potestatis, Cic. Cael. 32, 79; cf. also the doubtful reading: legum omnes servi sumus ut liberi esse possimus, id. Clu. 53, 146 (where B. and K. have omnes servimus).—

B Fem. (mostly anteclass. for ancilla): servae sint istae an liberae, Plaut. Rud. 4, 4, 62: ego serva sum, id. Cist. 4, 2, 99; id. Pers. 4, 4, 63; id. Poen. 5, 4, 31: serva nata, id. Rud. 1, 3, 37: servum servaque natum regnum occupasse, Liv. 1, 47 fin.: serva Briseis, Hor. C. 2, 4, 3 et saep.

3. servus — Walde–Hofmann

servus, eipepov nicht nach Brugmann IF. 19, 383 zu *ser- »eilen* unter formalem Vergleich von neuir. serbh „Raub, F revel*, kymr. herw „Landstreicherei, Räuberei* (vgl. Vendryes BSL, 36, 12411); auch nicht nach Darmesteter MSL. 2, 309 ff., Collitz BB. 18, 210 zu gr. Krepog „Besitz“. Der Typus servus „Diener“ : serväre fügt sich nicht dem üblichen System, da diese à-Verba entweder Kausativa oder Denominativa sind … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. servus, p. 1432]

4. servus — Walde–Hofmann

servus, -a „Diener, Sklave“ (seit XII tab., Naev., Enn., Plaut., Cato (vgl. EN. Sereus(det) seit Aug.]; daraus entl. gr. oépfoc; serva Adj. seit Ov.), servübilis seit Ov., servätor seit Pit. (-£riz seit Ter.), servätiö seit Plin., serväculum seit Dig., servio, -ire „diene“ (seit Plt., -àens seit Dig., servitio seit Itala, servitiälis Isid.), servolus und servolicula seit Plt., serviculus seit Tert, servificö seit … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. servus, p. 1433]

In the wild

servum Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni 8.3.12
servorum Historia Augusta, Firmus Saturninus, Proculus et Bonosus 12
servum Terence, Eunuchus 5.2
servos Pliny the Younger, Letters 10.20.1
servos Historia Augusta, De vita Hadriani 18
Servus Tertullian, De Monogamia 11

6 of 1,132 attestations shown.

Where it came from

Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. servus (scan p. 1433; entry #2584).

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.