***The term “savage” is derived from the Spanish “salvaje” meaning “one who needs salvation.”***
Woah. I thought it came from the word “Selvedge” meaning “dweller of the green forest”.
After witnessing the shear brutality and sadism of Indian torture the word soon took on the term brutal barbarian or ‘salvage” as in our Declaration of Independence, then “Savage”.
It is "savages" in the Declaration.