Savoie (French)
Where does "Savoie" come from?
The name Savoie traces back to the Late Latin term Sapaudia or Sabaudia. This name is rooted in the word sappinus, which refers to a type of fir tree, highlighting the region's ancient identity as a land defined by its evergreen forests.
Full etymology tree
- Savoie (French), 'Savoie (a department of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France)'
- inherited Sapaudia (Late Latin)
- derived Sapaud- (Celtic)
- influence sappīnus (Latin), 'A type of fir.'
- compound *sappos (Gaulish)
- inherited *sakʷos (Proto-Celtic)
- inherited *sokʷos (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *sakʷos (Proto-Celtic)
- compound pīnus (Latin), 'pine forest, pineland'
- compound *sappos (Gaulish)
- influence sappīnus (Latin), 'A type of fir.'
- suffix -ia (Latin), 'Used to form a first declension feminine abstract noun, usually from an adjective ending in -us, or (rarely in later Latin) one ending in -ius, or from a present participle stem, and occasionally from a root noun.'
- derived Sapaud- (Celtic)
- inherited Sapaudia (Late Latin)
Descendants and derived words
- Haute-Savoie (French)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris