selva

Forms

selva f (plural selvas)^[1] The first record, of 1572, is spelt selua.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin silva (“wood, forest”), which Houaiss takes as having come by the popular route.^[2][1] Its learned doublet (see Related words) was the usual medieval form, recorded from the 14th century with the sense “forest”.^[3][4] Cunha calls the word a divergent form of it.^[3][4] Wiktionary traces the word to Old Galician-Portuguese, but the sources record it only from 1572.^[1][2]

The same Latin word is Spanish selva, Catalan selva, Occitan selva, Italian selva and Old French seuve.^[5][1] Corominas notes that in western Iberia the inherited form shifted to “bramble”, and that the Spanish word soon became an archaic and poetic word beside bosque.^[6]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear: de Vaan gives no etymology, the OLD suggests *(k)selwa and compares Ancient Greek ξύλον (xúlon, “wood”), and Wiktionary cites the traditional link with Proto-Indo-European *sel- and ὕλη (húlē, “wood, timber”).^[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is of 1572, spelt selua, with the sense “wooded place, forest”.^[2][3] Bluteau quotes it in a geography by Barreiros and in poems of Galhegos (Entre as floridas Selvas, que guarnece / Com arroyo de prata o mar Tyrrheno).^[9]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau and Morais define it simply as wood or forest.^[9][10] The old Aulete adds the figurative sense “great number of things”, and modern dictionaries the sense of dense tropical forest, such as that of the Amazon basin, and of a place where people fight hard to survive.^[11][12][13] In Spanish the sense of thick tropical forest was fixed in the 19th century.^[6] The word passed into English and Russian as a name for the Amazon rainforest.^[1]

Timeline

• 1572 – first record of selva, spelt selua.^[2][3]
• 1572 – first record of selvático.^[3]
• 1720s – Bluteau's dictionary derives it from Latin sylva.^[9]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “wood, forest”.^[10]
• 1813 – first record of selvoso.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A naturally wooded place, a forest or wood (floresta, bosque).^[2][13][1]
2. (geography) Dense tropical forest with large trees, such as that of the Amazon; jungle: a selva amazónica.^[12][14][1]
3. (figurative) A great mass of things, especially tangled ones: uma selva de antenas.^[2][13]
4. (figurative) A place of fierce rivalry, where people fight to survive: O mercado é uma selva.^[2][13]

Word family

• selvoso

Related words

• silva
• selvagem
• selvático
• silvestre
• silvícola
• Spanish selva

Usage notes

In the Brazilian army selva! is used as a greeting or a cry of encouragement.^[15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. selva
3. ^ a b c d e f g Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. selva
4. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. silva
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 7920
6. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 196
7. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. silva
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. silua
9. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. selva
10. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 387
11. ^ Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. selva
12. ^ a b Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. selva
13. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. selva
14. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 8379
15. ^ Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. selva