selva

Forms

selva f (plural selve)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sĭlva (“wood, forest”).^[2][3][4][1] The same word is Old French seuve, Occitan selva, Catalan selva, Spanish selva and Portuguese selva.^[3][5] French soon replaced it with French bois and French forêt, and it survives there only in place names such as ⟨Sauve⟩ and ⟨Seube⟩.^[5][6] Tuscan place names formed from it are recorded from the 11th century.^[6]

The origin of silva is unknown: de Vaan gives no etymology, and Devoto and Nocentini find no sure comparison.^[7][8][3] It has traditionally been derived from Proto-Indo-European *sel- (“beam, board”) and compared with Ancient Greek ὕλη (hū́lē, “wood, timber”); the Oxford Latin Dictionary instead compares ξύλον (xúlon) and Lithuanian šùlas.^[1][9] DEI thinks the Latin word took the sense “building material” from the Greek one.^[6]

The old form Old Italian salvatico continues Late Latin salvāticus, an assimilated form of silvāticus; selvatico was probably remade on the noun.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Guido Guinizelli, who died before 1276: Al cor gentil rempaira sempre amore / come l'ausello in selva a la verdura (“love always returns to the noble heart as the bird to the green of the wood”).^[2][10] GRADIT dates the word to the 12th century, and Zingarelli to 1266.^[4][11]

Semantic evolution

Old Italian also had the forms serva and silva, and a plural selvi.^[12] Dante opens the Commedia in a selva oscura, and before 1321 he also uses the word for a great, confused crowd of people or things.^[2][13] Petrarch used selva for a tree or for wood as material, a poetic use.^[4][14]

From the Renaissance the word named a collection of notes or poems in no fixed order, after the Silvae of Statius and the Selve of Poliziano.^[13][15] In Tuscany selva on its own means a chestnut wood.^[14][13] The compound selvicoltura “forestry” appears in 1855, on the model of agricoltura;^[2] Cortelazzo and Zolli trace the idea to the Silvicultura oeconomica of Hans Carl von Carlowitz (1713).^[2]

Timeline

• 11th century – Tuscan place names formed from selva are recorded.^[6]
• Before 1276 – Guido Guinizelli uses selva for a wood.^[2]
• Before 1321 – Dante uses selva for a great crowd.^[2]
• Before 1411 – Selvoso “wooded” is recorded in Donato degli Albanzani.^[2]
• 1579 – The adjective selvato is recorded.^[16]
• 1855 – Selvicoltura appears in the title of C. Kasthofer's Compendio di selvicoltura.^[2]
• 1892 – Selvicultore “forester” is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large, dense forest or wood with thick undergrowth, and the land it covers.^[4][14][11]
2. (regional, Tuscany) A chestnut wood.^[4][14]
3. (literary, poetic) A tree; wood as material.^[4][14][15]
4. (figurative) A dense, often confused mass of people or things, a throng: una selva di ombrelli.^[4][14][15]
5. (literature) A collection of notes, poems or learned writings gathered in no fixed order, often as a title: the Selve of Poliziano.^[4][14][13]

Word family

• selvatico
• selvoso
• selvicoltura
• selvicoltore
• selvaticume
• selvatichezza
• inselvarsi
• rinselvare
• selvetta

Related words

• salvastrella
• selvaggio
• silvano
• silvestre
• silvicolo
• madreselva
• Latin silva

Usage notes

Selva is a more literary synonym of bosco, and sometimes of foresta.^[13] The proverb portare legna alla selva, “to carry wood to the forest”, means to bring something where there is already plenty, or to say the obvious.^[13][4] Venetian and Friulian selva “mole” is a different word, probably formed from a verb derived from Latin sublevō (“to lift up”).^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3446
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 399
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
11. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 18, 532
13. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
14. ^ a b c d e f g 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 c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
16. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 907
17. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Marcato, Carla (1998), I dialetti italiani: dizionario etimologico, Torino: UTET, p. 458