1590s, "act of surviving; continuation after some event," from survive + -al (2). Phrase survival of the fittest (1864) was used by Spencer in place of Darwin's natural selection.
Entries linking to survival
survive v.
mid-15c. (implied in surviving), "to outlive, continue in existence after the death of another," originally in the legal (inheritance) sense, from Anglo-French survivre, Old French souvivre (12c., Modern French survivre), from Latin supervivere "live beyond, live longer than," from super "over, beyond" (see super-) + vivere "to live" (from PIE root *gwei- "to live"). Intransitive sense "to live on" is from late 15c. Related: Survived; surviving.
-al 2
suffix forming nouns of action from verbs, mostly from Latin and French, meaning "act of ______ing" (such as survival, referral), Middle English -aille, from French feminine singular -aille, from Latin -alia, neuter plural of adjective suffix -alis, also used in English as a noun suffix. Nativized in English and used with Germanic verbs (as in bestowal, betrothal).
survivalist n.
from 1882 in various senses, from survival + -ist. As "one who practices outdoor survival skills" (often in anticipation of apocalypse or in fear of government), attested by 1976 (in writings of Kurt Saxon).