Sauvage

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. A term used to describe something that is wild or untamed, particularly in nature or behavior
2. Referring to a person or thing that is fierce and unrefined, often exhibiting a lack of civility
3. Denoting a state of being uncultivated or raw, capturing the essence of wildness and natural beauty

Etymology: The French "sauvage" is the same word as English "savage," and the two have drifted apart in English while staying close in French. Both descend from Latin "silvaticus," meaning "of the woods," from "silva" (forest). A forest dweller was, in Latin thinking, someone outside settled cultivated land, so the sense of wildness was built into the root from the start. English borrowed "sauvage" directly from French, and it has been used in English to describe untamed nature and behaviour. Because the word is a loan from French rather than an inherited English term, it kept a French spelling and pronunciation in many uses, which is why it still reads as foreign to many speakers. Note that the English word "savage" is a doublet of "sauvage," coming from the same Latin source through a different route. The fact that one form of this word ended up describing wild animals and landscapes while the other came to describe fierce or cruel people shows how a single image of the untamed forest can branch into very different meanings.