Service/Volunteering

Serve. Service. Servile. Servant. Server. Servitude. Serving. [Take just two or three minutes to collect reactions to these different words.] It’s odd, really, the wide variety of ideas and reactions to these very similar words. The first seems somehow positive and noble, at least usually. “How may I serve you?” The last one might be a description of an action, or a description of a certain amount of food. Why do some of these words carry such negative connotations?