savage | Search Online Etymology Dictionary

51 entries found.

1670s, coined by Dryden (as wittycism) from witty on model of criticism.

"That every witticism is an inexact thought: that what is perfectly true is imperfectly witty ...." [Walter Savage Landor, "Imaginary Conversations"]

inhuman (adj.)

mid-15c., "cruel," from Latin inhumanus "inhuman, savage, cruel, rude, barbarous, uncultured," from in- "not, opposite of" (see in- (1)) + humanus "human" (see human (adj.)). Spelled inhumane till 18c. (see humane).

wild man (n.)

c. 1200, "man lacking in self-restraint," from wild (adj.) + man (n.). From mid-13c. as "primitive, savage." Late 14c. as a surname.

brutal (adj.)

mid-15c., "bestial, pertaining to or resembling an animal" (as opposed to a man), from Old French brutal, from Latin brutus (see brute (adj.)). Of persons, "unintelligent, unreasoning" (1510s); "fierce, savage, cruel, inhuman, unfeeling" (1640s). Related: Brutally.

brutality (n.)

1540s, "quality of resembling a brute;" 1630s, "savage cruelty, inhuman behavior, insensibility to pity or shame," from brutal + -ity. Literal sense "condition or state of a brute" is from 1711.

atrocious (adj.)

1660s, "heinous, extremely criminal, enormously cruel," from stem of Latin atrox "fierce, savage, cruel" (see atrocity) + -ous. Weakened colloquial sense "very bad" is late 19c. Related: Atrociously; atrociousness.

wildcat (n.)

undomesticated cat, early 14c. (late 12c. as a surname), from wild (adj.) + cat (n.). Meaning "savage woman" is recorded from 1570s; sense of "one who forms rash projects" is attested from 1812. The adjective in the financial speculative sense is first recorded 1838, American English.

unmerited (adj.)

1640s, from un- (1) "not" + past participle of merit (v.).

"An ingenuous mind feels in unmerited praise the bitterest reproof. If you reject it you are unhappy, if you accept it you are undone." [Walter Savage Landor, "Imaginary Conversations"]

ravening (adj.)

"voracious, savage," late 14c., present-participle adjective from an extinct verb ravine, raven "to prey, to plunder, devour greedily" (mid-14c.), from Old French raviner, ravinier "to seize, pillage" (see raven (v.)). It is etymologically related to ravenous, but not to raven (n.). Related: Raveningly.

inhumanity (n.)

"barbarous cruelty," late 15c., from French inhumanité (14c.) or directly from Latin inhumanitatem (nominative inhumanitas) "inhuman conduct, savageness; incivility, rudeness," noun of quality from inhumanus "inhuman, savage, cruel" (see inhuman).

And Man, whose heav'n-erected face

The smiles of love adorn,—

Man's inhumanity to man

Makes countless thousands mourn!

[Robert Burns, "Man was Made to Mourn," 1784]

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