salve

See also: Salve and salvé

English

 Salve (disambiguation) on Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: sălv, säv, IPA^(key): /sɑːv/, /sælv/
• (US) enPR: sălv, săv, IPA^(key): /sæ(l)v/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːv, -ælv, -æv

Etymology 1

From Middle English salve, from Old English sealf, from Proto-West Germanic *salbu, from Proto-Germanic *salbō, from Proto-Indo-European *solp-éh₂, from *selp- (“salve, ointment”).

Cognates

Cognate with Middle Low German salve (Danish salve, Dutch zalf), Old High German salba (German Salbe), Gothic 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍉𐌽𐍃 (salbōns), Albanian gjalpë (“butter”), Sanskrit सर्पिस् (sarpís), Ancient Greek ἔλπος (élpos).

Noun

salve (countable and uncountable, plural salves)

1. An ointment, cream, or balm with soothing, healing, or calming effects.
2. Any remedy or action that soothes or heals.

Derived terms

• black salve
• lip salve
• salve bug

Translations

ointment, cream or balm

Arabic: مَرْهَم m (marham), زَبْدَة f (zabda), بَلْسَم m (balsam) Catalan: ungüent m, pomada (ca) f, bàlsam (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 藥膏 / 药膏 (zh) (yàogāo), 軟膏 / 软膏 (zh) (ruǎngāo) Cornish: eli Dutch: zalf (nl) m or f Esperanto: ungvento Finnish: voide (fi), salva (fi), balsami (fi) French: onguent (fr) m, pommade (fr) f, baume (fr) m German: Salbe (de) f, Balsam (de) m Gothic: 𐍃𐌰𐌻𐌱𐍉𐌽𐍃 f (salbōns) Greek: αλοιφή (el) f (aloifí) Hebrew: מִשְׁחָה (he) (mishkha), צֳרִי (he) f (tsori) Indonesian: salep (id), balsem (id) Ingrian: voije, maazi Irish: ungadh m Italian: unguento (it) m, balsamo (it) m, pomata (it) f Japanese: 軟膏 (ja) (なんこう, nankō) Kannada: ಹಚ್ಚುಮದ್ದು (kn) (haccumaddu) Korean: 연고 (yeon'go) Latvian: ziede f, svaide f Luxembourgish: Sallef f Macedonian: мелем (mk) m (melem) Maori: rongoā maene Norwegian: Bokmål: salve (no) m or f Nynorsk: salve m or f Ottoman Turkish: مرهم (merhem) Plautdietsch: Saulw f Portuguese: pomada (pt) f Russian: бальза́м (ru) m (balʹzám), мазь (ru) f (mazʹ) Spanish: ungüento (es) m, pomada (es) f, bálsamo (es) m Tocharian B: laupe, ṣalype Turkish: merhem (tr) Ukrainian: бальза́м (uk) m (balʹzám), мазь f (mazʹ) Volapük: nugvet (vo) Welsh: eli (cy) m Yiddish: זאַלב m (zalb)

something that soothes or heals

Finnish: balsami (fi) French: baume (fr) m Greek: βάλσαμο (el) n (válsamo) Italian: balsamo (it) m Maori: rongoā maene

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Ido: (please verify) unguento (io), (please verify) pomado (io)

Etymology 2

From Old English sealfian, from Proto-West Germanic *salbōn, from Proto-Germanic *salbōną, from *salbō (whence salve (noun)).

Verb

salve (third-person singular simple present salves, present participle salving, simple past and past participle salved)

1. (transitive) To calm or assuage.
   • 1985, Joan Morrison, Share House Blues, Boolarong Publications, page 26:

     She feels guilty for pampering him, and salves her conscience by bossily ordering him to go and fetch the clothes from the line[.]

2. To heal by applications or medicaments; to apply salve to; to anoint.
   • c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

     I do beseech your majesty […] salve the long-grown wounds of my intemperance."

3. To heal; to remedy; to cure; to make good.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 21:

     But Ebranck salved both their infamies / With noble deedes.

   • 1644, J[ohn] M[ilton], The Doctrine or Discipline of Divorce: […], 2nd edition, London: [s.n.], →OCLC, book:

     What may we do, then, to salve this seeming inconsistence?

4. (dated) To salvage.
   • 1942 March, “Notes and News: Repairing Blitzed Underground Cars”, in Railway Magazine, page 90:

     The interior woodwork was largely salved from the two cars, as well as the majority of the fittings and seats.

Derived terms

• salvability
• salvable
• salvage
• salvee
• salver
• salvor
• weapon-salve

Translations

to calm or assuage

Finnish: rauhoittaa (fi) Greek: ελαφρύνω (el) (elafrýno) Italian: guarire (it), curare (it)

to salvage

Finnish: pelastaa (fi) Italian: salvare (it)

Etymology 3

From Latin salvō (“to save”).

Verb

salve (third-person singular simple present salves, present participle salving, simple past and past participle salved)

1. (obsolete, astronomy) To save (the appearances or the phenomena); to explain (a celestial phenomenon); to account for (the apparent motions of the celestial bodies).
2. (obsolete) To resolve (a difficulty); to refute (an objection); to harmonize (an apparent contradiction).
   • 1661, Thomas Salusbury, transl., Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems:

     He which should hold it more rational to make the whole Universe move, and thereby to salve the Earths mobility, is more unreasonable....

3. (obsolete) To explain away; to mitigate; to excuse.

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “salve”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Etymology 4

From Latin salvē. The verb is from the interjection.

Interjection

salve

1. Hail; a greeting.

Verb

salve (third-person singular simple present salves, present participle salving, simple past and past participle salved)

1. (transitive) To say “salve” to; to greet; to salute.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 23, page 297:

     By this that ſtraunger knight in preſence came, / And goodly ſalued them; who nought againe / Him anſwered, as courteſie became, / But with ſterne lookes, and ſtomachous diſdaine, / Gaue ſignes of grudge and diſcontentment vaine: […]

Anagrams

• avels, evals, selva, Laves, Elvas, Veals, 'alves, slave, Slavé, Alves, Selva, Levas, laves, vales, veals, valse, Slave

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /salvə/, [ˈsalvə]

Etymology 1

From Middle Low German salve, from Old Saxon salva, from Proto-West Germanic *salbu.

Noun

salve c (singular definite salven, plural indefinite salver)

1. ointment (a thick viscous preparation for application to the skin, often containing medication)

Inflection

Declension of salve

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salve	salven	salver	salverne
genitive	salves	salvens	salvers	salvernes

Etymology 2

From French salve, from Latin salvē (“hail!, welcome!, farewell!”).

Noun

salve c (singular definite salven, plural indefinite salver)

1. salvo
2. volley
3. burst
4. tirade

Inflection

Declension of salve

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	salve	salven	salver	salverne
genitive	salves	salvens	salvers	salvernes

Etymology 3

From Middle Low German salven, from Old Saxon salbon, from Proto-West Germanic *salbōn (“to anoint”).

Verb

salve (imperative salv, infinitive at salve, present tense salver, past tense salvede, perfect tense er/har salvet)

1. anoint

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian salva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /salv/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

salve f (plural salves)

1. salvo, volley of shots
2. round

   une salve d’applaudissements

   A round of applause

See also

• salvage
• salvation

Further reading

• “salve”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• laves, lavés, levas, Slave, slave, valse, valsé

Galician

Verb

salve

1. inflection of salvar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative