Etymologically
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forestis

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Forms

forestis f (genitive forestis); third declension[1] Also foresta, forestum, forestus.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[1][2] Most dictionaries derive it from Latin forīs (“outside”), with an ending as in agrestis and forēnsis:[5][3][6][7] a ⟨silva forestis⟩ would have been woodland outside the land open to common use.[3][4][8] Others connect it with forum (“court”), the wood belonging to the court.[1]

Wiktionary considers a Germanic source, Proto-West Germanic *furhisti, more likely,[1] and Etymonline allows that it came to Medieval Latin through a Germanic word akin to Old High German forst.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL cites it from a diploma of King Childebert dated 556, where the king's forestis is woodland that is not public,[5][6] but the MLW points out that this diploma is an 11th-century forgery.[2] Köbler dates its first use as a noun to a diploma of 648.[6]

Semantic evolution

In the Frankish kingdoms it was land withdrawn from common use and kept for the king, above all for hunting and fishing: a royal forest, a royal reserve of pannage for pigs, a royal fishery.[3] Lords then had their own forests,[3][6] and in the end it meant any forest or woodland.[3][1] It also meant the rights over such land, an offence against them, and even a kind of knightly game.[2]

In England it was land under forest law, and could also mean a heath.[4] English forest (late 13th century) came through Old French forest, and Etymonline notes that the Latin term appears in the capitularies of Charlemagne.[8]

Timeline

  • 556 – Date of a diploma of Childebert that uses it, now known to be an 11th-century forgery.[5][2]
  • 648 – A Merovingian diploma uses it.[6]
  • late 13th century – English borrows Old French forest.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) Land withdrawn from common use and reserved to the king, especially for hunting and fishing; a royal forest.[3][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A royal reserve of pannage; a royal fishery.[3]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A lord's forest or hunting ground.[3][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A forest, woodland; a heath.[3][1][4]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Forest rights; an offence against them.[2]

Word family

  • forestārius

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com