Etymograph

English

silvology

Silvology comes from Latin silva ‘forest’, and perhaps goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sel- ‘jump, spring’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sel-1‘jump, spring’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilva2‘forest’
  3. Englishtodaysilvology2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin silva
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English silvology

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sel-Wiktionary, Latin silva‘jump, spring’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilvaWiktionary, English silvology‘forest’
  3. EnglishtodaysilvologyWiktionary, English silvology

The story

Coined by Roeloff Oldeman in 1990 in his book Forests: elements of silvology.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sel- ‘jump, spring’

result, sale, salmon, insult, sally, salon, exile, resilient, salle, salient, sill, somersault, salacious, slink, seel, selly, 16 more

through Latin silva ‘forest’

savage, salvage, silva, sylvan, selva, 5 more

Today it means

noun The scientific study of forests.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “silvology”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin silva. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sel- / silvology

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