Etymologically
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forêt

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Paris): /fɔ.ʁɛ/[1]
  • IPA (Paris): /fo.ʁɛ/[1]
  • IPA: /fɔ.ʁe/[1]
  • IPA: /fo.ʁe/[1]

Forms

forêt f (plural forêts)[1] Old French forest; the spelling forêt dates from the 17th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French forest, inherited from Late Latin forestis, probably from the phrase “silva forestis”, a forest under the king's court of justice,[4][2][5][6][3][7] from Latin forum (“court of justice”);[4][2][5] the Late Latin word named, from 648, land whose use the king reserved for himself.[4][2] The legal sense found in the earliest texts makes a Frankish *forhist (“fir wood”) unlikely.[4][2][5] Guiraud and others relate “forestis” instead to forīs (“outside”), a wood outside the commune's bounds.[6][2][8]

Italian foresta and German Forst were borrowed from French.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) uses forest for a wide stretch of land covered with trees;[4] the legal sense of a royal forest is also found in Old French.[4]

Semantic evolution

With bois, forêt displaced Old French selve, from Latin silva, which survives only in place names.[2][5] From the 14th century it is used figuratively of a dense mass of upright things, as forest dez lanches, a forest of lances,[4][3] and later of the timbers of a roof (1690).[3] Phrases include les Eaux et Forêts (1690), forêt vierge (1845) and les arbres cachent la forêt “one cannot see the wood for the trees”.[3]

The derivative forestier (12th century) keeps the /s/ of the legal language.[5]

Timeline

  • 648 – Late Latin forestis, a royal reserve.[4][2]
  • 1121–1134 – Forest (Philippe de Thaon).[4][6]
  • 14th century – A dense mass of things.[4]
  • 17th century – The spelling forêt.[2]
  • 1690 – Les Eaux et Forêts.[3]
  • 1845 – Forêt vierge.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A forest, a large wooded area: la forêt de Fontainebleau.[8][1]
  2. Forêt vierge: virgin forest, jungle.[3]
  3. (figurative) A dense mass: une forêt de mâts.[8][4]

Word family

  • forestier

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 708b
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert