Word Power: Conservative

Today’s lesson in Word Power is to understand the etymology and history behind the word conservative.

Conservative: [con-ser-va-tive]

(Adj.)

1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change
2. Moderate; cautious

(Noun)

1. One favoring traditional views and values
2. A supporter of political conservatism (American Heritage Dictionary)

Etymology

In order to understand the etymology of the word conservative, we must first, get to the root of the matter.  In this word, there is both a prefix, con-, and a suffix, -ive.  After we have chopped both the prefix and suffix off, we are left with the root servat. Now we are getting somewhere . . .

Servo, servare, servavi, servatus

Servare is a Latin verb that means to make safe, save, preserve, guard, protect, etc.  There are four main principle parts to pretty much every verb in the Latin language, with the exception of a few.  However, for the sake of simplicity we will only look at the main principle part, servatus.  Servatus, is the perfect passive participle form of the verb and this form has served as a foundation for which the words we use today were created.  Some words that we use today with a derivative of the root servatus in them are observe (to not protect) and preserve (to make safe in advance).

Con-

Now that you understand the root, -servat-, we can begin reconstructing our original word, conservative.  First, let’s add on the prefix con-.  The prefix con- is derived from the Latin word cum, which meant “with” or “together”.  Most people use this word when graduating cum laude (with honors) or magna cum laude (with high honors).  Nevertheless, this word was commonly used in the Latin language and in text.  The idea of a prefix is not a new development for many Latin words already used con- as a prefix, such as consere, which meant to join together, as well as conservare, which of course meant to keep safe altogether.  Some of words that we use the prefix con- in are congregate (to come together) and converge (to meet up with).

-ive

Now that we have the word conservat, we need to add the suffix -ive.  The suffix -ive is an adjectival suffix meaning “relating to or belonging to”.  The suffix -ive is actually derived from the Latin suffix, -ivus. This suffix usually followed the perfect passive participle, which we learned above is how our language got the root conservat.  Some commonly used words that we see the suffix -ive in are representative (belonging to act for others) and quantitative (relating to measure quantity).

Summary

You can see that over the years that followed from the demise of Latin culture, not much has changed in terms of the language we use today.  The Romans actually had the word, conservare, which we typically hear and use everyday.  Sure, we don’t conjugate verbs like the Romans did, but the roots are all still here.  We use the word conserve as a verb meaning to save or prevent injury.  We use conservation as a noun meaning the act of keeping safe.  And of course, we use conservative as an adjective meaning cautious, traditional, moderate, etc. Literally speaking, conservative is an adjective that means belonging to keep safe altogether.

Extra Credit

You might find yourself asking: How is it that I hear conservative used as a noun everyday, if it is truly an adjective?  This is because adjectives can take on the meaning of a noun when the noun is dropped off. When the noun drops off, the adjective becomes a substantive adjective. Substantive adjectives are used in multiple languages, such as English, Latin, Spanish, etc.  Therefore, when you hear the word conservative used as a noun it is really being used as a substantive adjective because you are expected to understand that the noun the adjective is modifying is a person, place, thing, etc. An example of this is “The Spanish have more fun”.  It is assumed that you are referring to people and thusly the adjective “Spanish” is a substantive adjective.

Tune in next Thursday for a breakdown of the word Liberal.

Image Used in this Post

Portrait of Ronald Reagan image courtesy of Flickr user Cliff 1066 published under the CC license.