Origins
The word 'savor' (British spelling 'savour') entered Middle English around 1220 from Old French 'savourer' (to taste, to relish, to enjoy), with the noun 'saveur' (taste, flavor) arriving alongside it. The Old French forms derive from Late Latin 'sapōrāre' (to give flavor to) and Latin 'sapor' (taste, flavor), from the verb 'sapere' (to taste, to have flavor, to be wise, to know). The PIE root is *sap- (to taste, to perceive).
The Latin verb 'sapere' is one of the most philosophically revealing words in any language. It means simultaneously to taste (a sensory experience) and to be wise or to know (an intellectual capacity). This double meaning is not a coincidence or a later development — it appears to be original. The Romans understood wisdom as a form of tasting: to be wise is to have good taste, to discern what is genuine from what is false, just as the tongue distinguishes flavors. This metaphor runs so deep in Latin thought that it generated the name of our species: Homo sapiens, 'the knowing human,' 'the wise human' — or, with equal etymological accuracy, 'the tasting human.'
From 'sapere' in its intellectual sense came 'sapient' (wise), 'savant' (a learned person, via French), and 'sage' (a wise person, from Old French 'sage,' from Vulgar Latin *sapius, from 'sapere'). The herb 'sage' (Salvia) is from a different Latin root ('salvare,' to save, to heal), but the homonymy in English between the wise person and the herb has encouraged folk-etymological associations. From 'sapere' in its sensory sense came 'savor,' 'savory' (having an appetizing taste or smell), and 'insipid' (in- + sapidus, without taste — hence dull, lacking interest). The adjective 'insipid' is the most dramatic illustration of the taste-wisdom link: something without flavor is, by extension, something without intelligence or interest.
French Influence
The Old French noun 'saveur' (taste, flavor) entered English as 'savor' / 'savour' and originally meant simply the taste or smell of something. Medieval English texts use 'savour' to describe both pleasant and unpleasant tastes and smells. The positive connotation — enjoying a taste, relishing an experience — developed gradually. By the sixteenth century, 'to savor' had acquired its modern sense of deliberate, pleasurable tasting: to savor a wine, to savor a moment, to savor a victory. The word implies slowness and attention — savoring is the opposite of gulping.
The noun 'savor' also developed a transferred sense: the characteristic quality or flavor of something, not necessarily gustatory. The 'savor' of an era, the 'savor' of a place — these uses extend the taste metaphor to describe the distinctive quality that makes something recognizable and memorable. This sense appears in the King James Bible (Matthew 5:13): 'If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?' Here 'savour' means the essential quality that makes salt useful, the thing that makes it what it is.
The distinction between 'savory' and 'sweet' as flavor categories became conventional in English cooking vocabulary by the seventeenth century. A 'savory' dish is one that is salty, spicy, or herby rather than sweet — the word has narrowed from a general term of approval (tasty, flavorful) to a specific flavor category opposed to sweetness. In British English, a 'savoury' can also be a noun — a small savory dish served at the end of a formal dinner, after dessert, to cleanse the palate.
Modern Usage
In contemporary English, 'savor' carries connotations of mindfulness and intentionality. To savor something — a meal, an experience, a relationship — is to be fully present to it, to resist the urge to rush past it. The word has been adopted by the mindfulness and wellness movements as a key concept: 'savoring' is a psychological practice of attending deliberately to positive experiences. This modern therapeutic use is, in a sense, a return to the word's deepest meaning: to savor is to taste fully, and to taste fully is the beginning of wisdom.