English 'souvenir' is borrowed from French, where 'souvenir' means 'memory' and derives from Latin 'subvenīre' (to come up from below) — a metaphor for the way memories rise from the depths of the mind, transferred in French to the physical objects that trigger such remembering.
An object kept as a reminder of a person, place, or event; a memento purchased or collected during travel.
From French 'souvenir' (memory, remembrance), used as a noun from the verb 'souvenir' (to remember), from Latin 'subvenīre' (to come to mind, to come up), from 'sub-' (up from below) + 'venīre' (to come). The semantic path is striking: something that 'comes up from below' — that is, rises from the depths of the mind — is a memory. The specialized sense of a physical object kept as a reminder developed in French and was carried
The Latin 'subvenīre' that gave French 'souvenir' (to remember) also gave English 'subvention' (financial support). The connection: to 'come up from below' can mean either a memory rising from the depths or help arriving from an unexpected source. English 'come' descends from the very same PIE root *gʷem- that underlies Latin 'venīre' — making