Serf comes from French serf, from Latin servus ('slave, servant'), of uncertain ultimate origin but possibly from an Etruscan source. The historical chain includes Latin servus. The quoted older sense, "slave, servant," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for serf. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word serf carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a feudal laborer bound to and transferred with the land". English derivatives include serfdom, serfage, and serfhood; related English forms include servile, servant, and serve. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.