forestry

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle French foresterie,^[2][3][4] from Old French foresterie (“office or jurisdiction of a forester”),^[4][5] formed from forest (“forest”) (the source of forest);^[4][2] the OED and Etymonline also allow a formation within English from forest and -ry.^[4][6] Klein derives the French noun from forestier (“forester”).^[7] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from 1285, for the jurisdiction and office of a forester and the rights and dues of a forest.^[5] In the sense of the organization of the Ancient Order of Foresters the OED takes it from forester with the suffix -y.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Scots law, the privileges of a royal forest: 1681, in J. Dalrymple's Institutions of the Law of Scotland.^[4][2] Etymonline dates it to the 1690s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

By 1751 the word also named an estate that carried those privileges.^[4] In 1823 Byron used it for wooded country, a wide extent of trees,^[4][8] a sense Collins now calls rare.^[9] The modern sense, the science and art of planting, cultivating and managing forests, is recorded from 1859, in Tennent's book on Ceylon.^[4][6][8]

Timeline

• 1681 – Scots law, the privileges of a royal forest.^[4][2]
• 1751 – an estate to which these privileges belong.^[4]
• 1823 – wooded country, an extent of forest, in Byron.^[4]
• 1859 – the science of planting and managing forests.^[4][6]
• 1861 – the principles of the Ancient Order of Foresters.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The science or practice of planting, managing and caring for forests and timber: He studied forestry at university.^[9][2][4]
2. (rare) Wooded land; forest.^[9][2][4]
3. (Scots law, historical) The privileges attached to a royal forest, or an estate holding them.^[2][4][8]

Word family

• agroforestry

Related words

• forest
• forester

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins