Wold

[Geoff Bannister]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" <catlady at ...> wrote:

> << wold 
>     O.E. wald (Anglian), weald (W.Saxon) "forest, wooded upland," from P.Gmc. *walthuz (cf. O.S., O.Fris. wald, M.Du. wold, Du. woud, O.H.G. wald, Ger. Wald "forest," Swed. vall "pasture," O.N. völlr "soil, field, meadow"); perhaps connected to wild. 
> 
> The sense development from "forested upland" to "rolling open country" (c.1205) perhaps is from Scand. infl., or a testimony to the historical deforestation of Britain. >>

Geoff:
I'd forgotten the link to "weald".

We still have "The Weald of Kent" and "The Weald of Sussex" as 
area names. That of course is the area of the South Saxons.