- salute (v.)
- late 14c., earlier salue (c.1300), from Latin salutare "to greet," literally "wish health to," from salus (genitive salutis) "greeting, good health," related to salvus "safe" (see safe). The noun is attested from c.1400 as an utterance, gesture, or action of any kind. The military and nautical sense of "display flags, fire cannons, etc., as a mark of respect" is recorded from 1580s (the noun in this sense is from 1690s); sense of raising the hand to the cap in the presence of a superior officer is from 1832 (n.), 1844 (v.).