[L. silva a wood, forest, woodland: commonly misspelt sylva in imitation of the synonymous Gr. ὔλη (see HYLE.).]
1. a. A title for a treatise on forest trees, or a descriptive list or catalog of trees. (Cf. FLORA 2.)
1664. Evelyn (title), Sylva, Or a Discourse of Forest-Trees.
1859. W. S. Coleman, Woodlands (1866), 63. Its [sc. the walnut’s] importance as a timber and fruit tree is so great that we must introduce it as a member of our Sylva.
b. The trees of a particular region or period collectively. (Cf. FLORA 3.)
1846–8. Lowell, Biglow P., Ser. I. 2nd Let. fr. B. Sawin, Postscr. In the sylva of our own Southern States, the females of my family have called my attention to the china-tree.
1882. ‘Ouida,’ Maremma, I. 148. The rich sylva and flora which the central part of the Maremma possesses.
† 2. A title for a collection of pieces, esp. of poems; also, a thesaurus of words or phrases.
After the title (Silvæ) of Statius’s collection of occasional poems.
[1626. Bacon (title), Sylva Sylvarvm: or A Naturall Historie. In ten Centvries.]
1636. A. C[owley] (title), Sylva, or Divers Copies of Verses Made upon sundry occasions.
1675. Alsop, Anti-sozzo, iii. § 2. 259. What ever other Synonima his Sylva will furnish him with.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Sylva, in Poetry, a poetical Piece, composed, as it were, at a Start; in a kind of Rapture or Transport,… its chief Use, in our Language is, metaphorically, to express certain Collections of poetical Pieces, of various Kinds, and on various Subjects.
1787. (title) Sylva; or, the Wood: being a Collection of Anecdotes, Dissertations, Characters, Apophthegms, Original Letters, Bons Mots, and other little things…. By a Society of the Learned.
