Transylvania
/ˌtɹæn.səlˈveɪ.ni.ə/ proper noun
Forms Transsilvania Transsylvania
- proper noun A historical region in western Romania.
Etymology
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.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “Transylvania”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details