forestis

Meaning

1. EarlyMedieval Latinfemininea large area reserved for the use of the king or nobility, often a forest and often for hunting or fishing
   Servorum Dei compendiis opitulante Domino in foreste nostra nuncupante Arduuina [...] consulere cupientes [...] concessimus eis, ut ibi monasteria [...] construerenturDesiring, with the Lord's help, to provide for the benefit of the servants of God in our forest called the Ardennes, we granted to them that monasteries should be built there643–8, charter of Sigebert III founding the monasteries of Stavelot and Malmedy
2. EarlyMedieval Latinfemininea forest in general

Declension

Origins

Likely from Proto-West Germanic *furhisti. The shape of the word in Latin recalls the adjective agrestis. Alternatively, a shortening of an expression like silva *forestis, the latter an unattested adjective derived from forās (“outside”) or forum (“court”) + -est(r)is (adjective ending). In the former case the etymological sense would perhaps be “forest outside of public use” and in the latter case “forest belonging to the court”.

Related words