forest的词源

英文词源

forest

forest: [13] The underlying sense of forest appears to be ‘outside wooded area’. It comes from the late Latin phrase forestis silva (Latin silva means ‘wood’), which was applied to the royal forests of Charlemagne. The adjective forestis (which became the Old French noun forest) was probably a derivative of Latin forīs ‘outdoor, outside’, which, like forās (source of English foreign), was related to Latin forēs ‘door’. In this context, ‘outside’ presumably meant ‘beyond the main or central fenced area of woodland’.
=> door, foreign, forfeit

forest (n.)

late 13c., "extensive tree-covered district," especially one set aside for royal hunting and under the protection of the king, from Old French forest "forest, wood, woodland" (Modern French forêt), probably ultimately from Late Latin/Medieval Latin forestem silvam "the outside woods," a term from the Capitularies of Charlemagne denoting "the royal forest." This word comes to Medieval Latin, perhaps via a Germanic source akin to Old High German forst, from Latin foris "outside" (see foreign). If so, the sense is "beyond the park," the park (Latin parcus; see park (n.)) being the main or central fenced woodland.

Another theory traces it through Medieval Latin forestis, originally "forest preserve, game preserve," from Latin forum in legal sense "court, judgment;" in other words "land subject to a ban" [Buck]. Replaced Old English wudu (see wood (n.)). Spanish and Portuguese floresta have been influenced by flor "flower."

forest (v.)

"cover with trees or woods," 1818 (forested is attested from 1610s), from forest (n.).

中文词源

forest（森林）：平民禁止入内的王室森林

英语中表示“森林”的单词是forest，从拼写上看，它与表示“树木”的单词tree、wood没有任何关系。这是为什么呢？原来，在古英语中，表示“森林”的单词是weald或wald，而现代英语中的forest是个地道的外来词。它来自拉丁语forestem silvam，最早出现在法兰克国王查理曼大帝所制订的法律中，表示“平民禁止入内的王室森林”。其中，forestem来自foris（outside），表示“禁止入内”，而silvam才表示“森林”，英语单词silva或sylva（森林里的树木）就来自silvam。不懂拉丁语的英国普通民众将拉丁语forestem silvam拦腰砍断，用前半截forest来表示王室御用森林，后来泛指为任何森林。

值得注意的是，英语单词foreign就来自拉丁语foris（outside），本意就是“外面的、大门外面的”。

forest：['fɒrɪst] n.森林

foreign：['fɒrɪn] adj.外国的，外面的，异质的，不相关的

该词的英语词源请访问趣词词源英文版：forest 词源，forest 含义。

forest：森林

词源有争议。一种观点认为来自拉丁短语forestem silvam, 城外树林，皇家游猎场，forestem, 外面的，词源同foreign, silvam, 林地，词源同sylvan. 另一种观点认为来自PIE*perkwu, 橡树，橡树林，词源同fir.