Sylvan

(SILL-vuhn) Pertaining to trees and forests; wooded In Roman myth, Silvanus was a god of trees, fields, and forests. His name derives from Latin "silva," which means "forest."

Incidentally, "sylvan" is an etymological relative of such woodsy names as "Sylvester" and "Sylvia," as well as "Pennsylvania" ("Penn's woods") named for the father of William Penn, the colony's founder.

"Faint was the air with the odorous breath of magnolia blossoms, And with the heat of noon; and numberless sylvan islands, Fragrant and thickly embowered with blossoming hedges of roses, Near to whose shores they glided along, invited to slumber. Soon by the fairest of these their weary oars were suspended."
--
"Evangeline," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Syl"van (?), a. [See Silvan, a.]

1.

Of or pertaining to a sylva; forestlike; hence, rural; rustic.

The traditional memory of a rural and a sylvan region . . . is usually exact as well as tenacious. De Quincey.

2.

Abounding in forests or in trees; woody.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Syl"van, n. [L. Sylvanus, better Silvanus. See Silvan, a.]

A fabled deity of the wood; a satyr; a faun; sometimes, a rustic.

Her private orchards, walled on every side, To lawless sylvans all access denied. Pope.

 

© Webster 1913.

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Syl"van, n. [Sylva + furfuran.] Chem.

A liquid hydrocarbon obtained together with furfuran (tetrol) by the distillation of pine wood; -- called also methyl tetrol, or methyl furfuran.

 

© Webster 1913.