Back to all words

Service

3 stages from Latin to English.

Today it means the action of helping or doing work for someone; a system supplying a public need

Where does the word "service" come from? It comes from Latin servitium, passing through Old French before entering English (1100s).

servitium→servise→service

Latin · classical

"slavery, servitude"

'slavery, servitude', from servus 'slave'; Roman law also used servitus for rights over a neighbour's land, the source of legal 'servitudes'

Old French · 1100s

"duty owed; worship"

the duty a vassal owed his lord, such as the customary forty days of knight service each year

English · 1100s

"work done for others"

'civil service' was first used of the East India Company's administrators, and Britain's modern civil service grew from the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854

Drag to pan · scroll to zoom

Read the full story

Service’s story begins in Latin: servitium meant “slavery, servitude.” 'slavery, servitude', from servus 'slave'; Roman law also used servitus for rights over a neighbour's land, the source of legal 'servitudes'. By 1100s, the word had taken hold in Old French as servise. The duty a vassal owed his lord, such as the customary forty days of knight service each year. It reached English by 1100s as service. 'civil service' was first used of the East India Company's administrators, and Britain's modern civil service grew from the Northcote-Trevelyan Report of 1854. Today, service means the action of helping or doing work for someone; a system supplying a public need.