forest English · revision 3805

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1297|origins=la forīs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˈfɒr.ɪst/, US /ˈfɔːr.ɪst/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|forest]],^(MWU 2024) [[bor|fro|forest|t=forest, wood, woodland]] (modern French forêt),^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) probably ultimately from Late or Medieval Latin forestem silvam “the outside woods”, a term from Charlemagne's capitularies for the royal forest,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) [[der|la-lat|forestis|t=(wood) outside, unenclosed]],^(Hoad 1986)^(NODE 1998)^(MWU 2024) from [[m|la|forīs|t=outside, out of doors]].^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The sense would be woodland beyond the park, unfenced.^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) The Medieval Latin word may have come through a Germanic source akin to Old High German forst;^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) another theory derives it from Latin forum in the legal sense “court, judgment”, so “land subject to a ban”.^(Etymonline) It replaced Old English wudu.^(Etymonline) It is related to [[foreign]] and [[forum]].^(Cresswell 2021)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ An extensive tree-covered district, especially one set aside for royal hunting: late 13th century in Etymonline;^(Etymonline) the OED has the legal sense in 1297 and the general one before 1300.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In early use the word had a special legal sense: an area, usually the king's, kept for hunting, a mix of woodland, heath, scrub and farmland less thickly wooded than forests today, with its own laws and officers.^(Cresswell 2021)^(OED 1989) William the Conqueror reserved the New Forest in Hampshire as a royal hunting ground in 1079.^(Cresswell 2021) From about 1320 it also meant a wild uncultivated waste.^(OED 1989)^(NODE 1998) In Hampshire dialect it meant open common land.^(Wright 1898) The verb “to cover with trees” is from 1818, in Keats,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) though ''forested'' is recorded from the 1610s;^(Etymonline) the earlier verb was [[afforest]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1297 – a royal hunting ground.^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1300 – a wooded tract.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1320 – a wilderness.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1610s – ''forested''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1818 – verb, to plant with trees.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A dense growth of trees and undergrowth covering a large area.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+ # Something like a forest in density or profusion: ''a forest of masts''.^(AHD)

+ # In England, an area formerly owned by the [[sovereign]] and kept as a royal hunting ground.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To plant trees on; to cover with forest.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[forestal]]

+ * [[forestation]]

+ * [[forested]]

+ * [[forestless]]

+ * [[forestlike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[afforest]]

+ * [[reforest]]

+ * [[foreign]]

+ * [[forum]]

+ * [[forester]]

+ * [[deforest]]

+ * [[door]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}