Servant and slave are similar notions, although with differences.
The Latin term servus became, in Spanish, servant . The concept is used, according to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy ( RAE ), to name the slave who is in the service of a lord.
Despite this definition, a distinction is usually made between the servant and the slave . The serf received a home and land to work from the feudal lord and could keep a percentage of the harvest. Furthermore, according to the law, he was a free man. The slave, on the other hand, was the property of his master.
Differences between the servant and the slave
In addition to all of the above, we cannot ignore the fact that there was another series of differences between servant and slave that historians insist on making clear so that we do not make a mistake using both words as synonyms. Specifically, these other signs of identity of one and the other make clear: -The slave was seen by the master as a simple commodity. Hence he could sell it, give it away and even exchange it for a debt if he deemed it appropriate. All of them actions against which the aforementioned slave could do nothing. -The servant, for his part, could not be sold or bought. The figure of the serf was frequent in the feudal regime . It was then an institution that consecrated a social bond known as servitude , which united a peasant (the serf) with a nobleman (the feudal lord) through the services that the former provided to the latter. The lord, for his part, rewarded the servant for this fidelity.
The figure of the servant can be found in the Middle Ages.
The concept in religion
In the context of religion , servants are the faithful who comply with the commands of a doctrine and follow a certain authority. In this case, the designation of servant is associated with the humility and compliance of the believer.
It is also interesting to know that in the "Bible" the use of the expression the servant of Yahweh is used, which is expressed to refer to whom Yahweh, as an "honorific title", chooses to accompany him in what is the achievement of his design.
In certain religions, those people whose faith presents extraordinary characteristics are classified as servants of God . Catholicism, for example, names as a servant of God the subject who begins his path to possible beatification and then to canonization .
Servant in literature and as an adjective
Within the literary field we can highlight the existence of a long list of works that have used the term servant in their titles. An example is the novel "Siervo sin tierra", published in 1985 and written by Eduardo Caballero Calderón. It tells the story of a peasant who goes by the name of Siervo Joya and who works hard to survive. However, he will not have it easy because his political ideas will collide head-on with those of the reigning power, which will do everything in its power to dispossess the peasants of their lands.
Servant, finally, can be the adjective given to an individual who shows respect or submission to another: "The gangster sent his servants to intimidate the neighbors."