foresta

Forms

foresta f (plural foreste)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin foresta, from Late Latin forestis, used with Latin silva (“wood”) understood: the “outer wood”, from the adverb forīs (“outside”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The DEI suggests the adjective was modelled on agrestis and campestris for the wood outside the enclosure, and Devoto notes that it passed into the declension in -a.^[6][5]

The Late Latin word is recorded in 556; in Italy it begins to replace the older word for wood in 778.^[6] From France, where it named the king's forest from the 8th century, it spread to Spain and Germany.^[6] Nocentini describes it as a legal term of the laws of the Lombards and the Franks for the royal forest.^[3] The GDLI thinks the Italian word seems to come from Old French forest, the old form of French forêt, and Meyer-Lübke derived it from Old Occitan forest.^[7][8] Spanish floresta and Portuguese floresta were influenced by Latin flōs (“flower”).^[9]

The origin is not settled.^[10][2] Meyer-Lübke and the GDLI connect the word with Latin forum (“market place; court”): the wood reserved to the ruler, where his court sat to judge.^[8][7] Grimm derived it from Old High German foraha (“pine”), through German Forst, but Diez objected that the loss of the ⟨h⟩ is unexplained and preferred the Latin adverb.^[9] Treccani calls the origin uncertain, and DELI quotes Migliorini: many doubts remain about the word.^[10][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's first record is in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur, of the last quarter of the 12th century, for a wide stretch of land without inhabitants and thickly covered with trees.^[11] DELI dates it to Brunetto Latini, who died in 1294.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian already used the word for the trees themselves and, by extension, for a harsh place full of dangers.^[11] The knight of the Novellino rides per una gran foresta, and Dante calls the earthly paradise la divina foresta spessa e viva; his commentator Francesco da Buti explains foresta as a place “outside”, apart from where people live together.^[12]

The Medieval Latin forestarius, the forest keeper, is recorded in 904.^[6] Forestale “of forests” dates from 1815, and the DEI suggests the milizia forestale may be a calque of German.^[3][6] In modern Italian the word has the figurative sense of a thick mass, as of hair, and il richiamo della foresta comes from the title of Jack London's novel.^[4][13]

Timeline

• 556 – Late Latin forestis is recorded.^[6]
• 778 – The word begins to be recorded in Italy in place of silva.^[6]
• 904 – Medieval Latin forestarius “forest keeper”.^[6]
• Last quarter of the 12th century – First Italian record, in the Venetian Proverbia que dicuntur.^[11]
• 1266 – Zingarelli's date for the first record.^[13]
• Before 1294 – Brunetto Latini uses foresta.^[2]
• 1815 – Forestale is first recorded.^[3]
• Before 1956 – Deforestazione is first recorded;^[3] deforestare follows in 1983.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. forest: a large area of land covered mostly by trees: la foresta amazzonica.^[4][14][10]
2. The trees of such an area taken together.^[4][11]
3. (figurative) A thick, tangled mass: una foresta di ombrelloni.^[4][14][15]

Word family

• forestale
• forestazione
• deforestare
• deforestazione
• afforestare
• forestare
• inforestare

Related words

• fuori
• forestiero
• French forêt
• Latin foris

Usage notes

Common phrases are foresta vergine, foresta pluviale and foresta equatoriale for the tropical rainforest.^[13][16] The old and dialect adjective foresto, feminine foresta, “foreign; wild”, has the same Latin source.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1687
7. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 6, 160
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Zaccaria, Enrico (1901), L'elemento germanico nella lingua italiana: lessico con appendice e prospetto cronologico, Bologna: Treves
10. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
11. ^ a b c d Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
14. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
15. ^ a b Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli