Etymologically
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silvestris

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sɪɫˈwɛs.trɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [silˈvɛs.tris][1]

Forms

silvestris (neuter silvestre); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] A masculine nominative silvester occurs in Seneca and Pliny the Elder,[2][3] and the word is also written sylv-.[3] Accius has a syncopated genitive plural silvestrum.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from silva (“wood, forest”) with the suffix -estris.[2][1][4] De Vaan finds no etymology for ⟨silva⟩.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Accius.[4] An early tragic fragment has a place thick with woodland hedges, and Lucretius the pipe that pours out its woodland music.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is covered with woods or wooded, as Cicero's wooded hills, and in the neuter plural it is a noun, woodlands.[2][3] It is said of things found or produced in woods, as Catullus' Chiron bringing woodland gifts, of vegetation and of rustic arts, and of what is situated or done in woodland, as Cicero's people hidden in woodland dwellings before there were laws.[2] Of people it implies wild or savage, as Horace's woodland men whom Orpheus turned from slaughter, and of gods it is the woodland deities Pan and Faunus.[2] Of animals and plants it is wild, not tame or cultivated, as Columella's wild rams.[2][1]

A dative Silvānō Silvestrō occurs in an inscription.[3]

Timeline

  • 170–c. 90 BC – First recorded in Accius.[4]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of woodland music.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of wooded hills and of wild and cultivated trees.[2][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of wild woodland men.[2][4]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of wild rams.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Covered with woods, wooded; in the neuter plural, woodlands.[2][1]
  2. Found or growing in woods; rustic.[2][1]
  3. Situated or carried on in woodland.[2]
  4. Of people, living in woods, wild, savage; of gods, of the woods.[2][1]
  5. Of animals or plants, wild, untamed, not cultivated.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill