Etymograph

English

Sylvia

Sylvia comes from Latin silva ‘forest’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilva‘forest’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1933Sylvia

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilva‘forest’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1933Sylvia

Earliest quotation: 1933, Eleanor Farjeon, Girls' Names: “What lovely names for girls there are! There's Stella…”

The story

In myths, Rhea Silvia was the mother of famous twins Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome. 6th-century saint Silvia was the mother of the pope Gregory the Great.folk etymology The source marks this as unproven or a folk etymology. Quoted, not asserted.

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, 18 more

through Latin silva ‘forest’

savage, silva, salvage, sylvan, selva, 6 more

Today it means

name A female given name from Latin, a popular spelling variant of Silvia.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin silva / Sylvia

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