Etymology

Transylvania

T1R1A1N1S1Y4L1V4A1N1I1A1

Today it means: A historical region in western Romania. Full definition →

Medieval Latin Trānsylvānia ← Hungarian Erdeuelu ← Latin silvānus
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*terh₂-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*térh₂t
  3. Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂ónts
  4. Proto-Indo-European*tr̥h₂n̥ts
  5. Proto-Italic*trāns
  6. Proto-Italic*trāns-
  7. Latintrans-
  8. Proto-Indo-European*sel-der.?
  9. Latinsilva
  10. Latinsilvānus
  11. HungarianErdeuelu
  12. Medieval LatinTrānsylvānia
  13. English todayTransylvania

Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin Trānsylvānia, alternative spelling of Trānssilvānia, from trāns (“across”) + silvānus (“forest”, relational adjective) + -ia (abstract noun suffix), i.e. “region across the forest”, a calque of Hungarian Erdély, from erdő (“forest”) + elv/elü (“region beyond”). By surface analysis, tran- + sylvan + -ia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.