selva

See also: Selva and selvä

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese selva, from Latin silva. Doublet of silva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛlvə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

selva (plural selvas)

1. Heavily forested ground in the Amazon basin.

Translations

heavily forested ground in the Amazon basin

• Armenian: սելվա (selva)

Anagrams

• avels, evals, Laves, Elvas, Veals, 'alves, slave, Slavé, Alves, salve, Levas, laves, vales, veals, valse, Slave

Aragonese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Navarro-Aragonese selva, from Latin silva, from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Compare Catalan selva, Spanish selva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈselba/
• Rhymes: -elba
• Syllabification: sel‧va

Noun

selva f

1. forest

   Synonym: bosque

2. jungle, rainforest

Hypernyms

• bosque

Derived terms

• selva amazonica
• selva tropical

Related terms

• salvache
• selvatico

References

• Diccionario ortografico de l'aragonés (Seguntes la PO de l'EFA)

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin silva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈselba/ [ˈsel.β̞a]

Noun

selva f (plural selves)

1. rainforest

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan selva, from Latin silva, from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Compare Occitan selva, Spanish selva.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ˈsɛl.βə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ˈsəl.və]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈsel.va]

Noun

selva f (plural selves)

1. jungle, rainforest

Hypernyms

• bosc

Derived terms

• selva amazònica
• selva nebulosa
• selva pluvial
• selva tropical

Related terms

• salvatge
• selvatà
• selvàtic
• selvatgí

References

• “selva” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “selva” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Italian

Etymology

From Latin silva, from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsel.va/, /ˈsɛl.va/
• Rhymes: -elva, -ɛlva
• Hyphenation: sél‧va, sèl‧va

Noun

selva f (plural selve)

1. forest, wood
   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto I”, in Inferno [Hell]‎^[1], lines 1–3; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata [The Commedia according to the ancient vulgate]‎^[2], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita ¶ mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ¶ ché la diritta via era smarrita.

     Midway upon the journey of our life ¶ I found myself within a dark forest, ¶ for the straightforward pathway had been lost.

2. (by extension, poetic) wood (material), woodland
   • 1374, Francesco Petrarca, Il Canzoniere, Andrea Bettini (1858), p.188, Capitolo XIII:

     [...] e non si trasformasse in verde selva,
     per uscirmi di braccia come il giorno
     che Apollo la seguia quaggiù per terra.

     [...] and may she not be changed to green woodland,
     issuing from my arms, as on the day
     when Apollo pursued her down here on earth.

3. (figurative) mass, multitude, forest
   • 1321, Dante Alighieri, La divina commedia: Inferno, Le Monnier, published 1994, Canto IV, p. 57, vv. 64-66:

     Non lasciavam l'andar perch'ei dicessi,
     ma passavam la selva tuttavia,
     la selva, dico, di spiriti spessi.

     We ceased not to advance because he spake,
     but still were passing onward through the forest,
     the forest, say I, of thick-crowded ghosts.

Synonyms

• bosco
• foresta

Derived terms

• selvicoltore
• selvicultore

Related terms

• salvastrella
• selvaggio
• selvatico
• selvoso
• silvano
• silvestre
• silvicolo

Anagrams

• salve, slave, svela, valse

Latvian

Noun

selva f (4th declension)

1. selva

Declension

Declension of selva (4th declension)

	singular	plural
nominative	selva	selvas
genitive	selvas	selvu
dative	selvai	selvām
accusative	selvu	selvas
instrumental	selvu	selvām
locative	selvā	selvās
vocative	selva	selvas

Portuguese

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese, from Latin silva, from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”). Compare the doublet silva.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛw.vɐ/ [ˈsɛʊ̯.vɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛw.vɐ/ [ˈsɛʊ̯.vɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛw.va/ [ˈsɛʊ̯.va]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛl.vɐ/ [ˈsɛɫ.vɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛl.vɐ/ [ˈsɛɫ.vɐ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛl.bɐ/ [ˈsɛɫ.βɐ]

• Hyphenation: sel‧va

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

Noun

selva f (plural selvas)

1. jungle

   O leão é o rei da selva.

   The lion is the king of the jungle.

2. woods, forest

   Synonyms: floresta; see also Thesaurus:floresta

3. (figuratively) mass, multitude, forest

Quotations

• 1844: O apertado revolver das armas formava uma selva de ferros em volta dos dois capitães inimigos, através da qual debalde o conde de Septum buscara multas vezes abrir caminho para ferir Teodomiro, até que finalmente, galgando por cima de um árabe derribado, pudera vibrar um golpe. — Alexandre Herculano, "Eurico, o Presbítero".

Derived terms

• selvagem
• selvageria
• silvestre
• silvícola
• silvicultura

Descendants

• → English: selva
• → Russian: се́льва (sélʹva)

Spanish

Selva (rainforest).

Etymology

Inherited from Latin silva, from Proto-Indo-European *sel-, *swel- (“beam, board, frame, threshold”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈselba/ [ˈsel.β̞a]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -elba
• Syllabification: sel‧va

Noun

selva f (plural selvas)

1. (forestry) forest or jungle, wood, chiefly a rainforest

Derived terms

• cóndor de la selva
• La Selva
• ley de la selva
• selva amazónica
• selva lluviosa
• Selva Misionera
• Selva Negra
• selvático

Related terms

• salvaje
• selvático
• selvoso
• silvano
• silvático
• silvestre
• silvicultura
• silvoso

Descendants

• → Russian: се́льва (sélʹva)

See also

• bosque
• jungla

Further reading

• “selva”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10

Anagrams

• laves
• levas
• salve
• vales
• valse
• velas