servaunt

English

Noun

servaunt (plural servaunts)

1. Obsolete form of servant.

Anagrams

• vaunters

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sarvant, sarvaunt, serfaunt, servand, servant, servaund, servaunte, servaunth, servawnt, servont, servonde, serwant, sirvand, sirvant

Etymology

From Old French servent, servant, originally the present participle of servir; equivalent to serven +‎ -ant. Doublet of serjaunt.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛrˈva(u̯)nt/, /ˈsɛrva(u̯)nt/
• (Northern) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛrvand/

Noun

servaunt (plural servauntes or servauns)

1. A labourer or employee; one who works for another:
   1. A servant or attendant.
   2. A deputy, officer, or representative.
   3. An assistant or apprentice.
2. A follower (usually of an individual):
   1. A lover; one in a romantic relationship with another.
   2. (religion) A follower of a deity or religious concept.
      • 1387–1400, [Geoffrey] Chaucer, “The Nonne”, in The Tales of Caunt́bury (Hengwrt Chaucer; Peniarth Manuscript 392D), Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: National Library of Wales, published c. 1400–1410], →OCLC, folio 171, recto, lines 418-420:

        […] Is verray god / this is al our sentence / That hath so good a seruant / hym to serue / This with o voys / we trowen thogh we sterue

        […] is true God (this all of us believe) / who has such a good follower to serve Him. / This we believe without exception, even if we die.

      • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], published c. 1410, Apocalips 11:18, page 121r, column 2; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

        ⁊ folkis ben wrooþ · ⁊ þi wraþþe cam · ⁊ tyme of deed men to be demed · ⁊ to ȝelde meede to þi ſeruauntis ⁊ pꝛophetis ⁊ halowis ⁊ dꝛedynge þi name · to ſmale ⁊ to grete / ⁊ to diſtrie hem þat coꝛrumpiden þe erþe

        And the nations were furious; then your fury came. It is time for the dead to be judged, to give rewards to your servants, prophets, saints, and those who fear your name, both small and large, and to destroy those who destroyed the Earth.

   3. A soldier following a ranking individual.
3. A slave, thrall, or serf.
4. (figurative) That which serves another.

Descendants

• English: servant (dialectal sarvant)
• Scots: servant, sairvant, servan

References

• “servaunt, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.