Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
silvan [sil-vuh n] Examples adjective, noun
Related formssil·van·i·ty [sil-van-i-tee] /sɪlˈvæn ɪ ti/, noun sylvan or sil·van [sil-vuh n] adjective
- of, relating to, or inhabiting the woods.
- consisting of or abounding in woods or trees; wooded; woody: a shady, sylvan glade.
- made of trees, branches, boughs, etc.
noun
- a person dwelling in a woodland region.
- a mythical deity or spirit of the woods.
Origin of sylvan 1555–65; Latin sylvānus, spelling variant of silvānus, equivalent to silv(a) forest + -ānus -an Examples from the Web for silvan Historical Examples of silvan
In the silence that followed these words Silvan turned to Nance.
Jeannette Augustus Marks
In the light of day the silvan gods and goddesses looked specially uncomfortable, for want of a little foliage.
Chambers’s Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art
Various
After the war was ended he went into the medical profession, entering on practice in Silvan Springs, Arkansas.
History of Company K of the 140th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (1862-’65)
Benjamin F. Powelson and Alexander Sweeney
Silvan deities of Greek mythology, with head and body of a man and legs of a goat.
Walter Scott
Within this silvan palace the most important personages present were invited to hold high festival.
Sir Walter Scott
British Dictionary definitions for silvan silvan adjective
- a variant spelling of sylvan
sylvan silvan mainly poetic adjective
- of, characteristic of, or consisting of woods or forests
- living or located in woods or forests
- idyllically rural or rustic
noun
- an inhabitant of the woods, esp a spirit
Word Origin for sylvan C16: from Latin silvānus, from silva forest Word Origin and History for silvan adj.
see sylvan.
sylvan adj.
“of the woods,” 1570s; earlier as a noun (1560s), “deity of the woods,” from Middle French sylvain, from Latin silvanus “pertaining to wood or forest” (originally only in silvanae “goddesses of the woods”), from silva “wood, forest, grove,” of unknown origin. Silvanus was used by the Romans as the proper name of a god of woods and fields, identified with Pan. Spelling with -y- influenced by Greek hyle “forest,” from which the Latin word was supposed to derive.