Komorebi (木漏れ日): Sunshine filtering through the trees.
16th February 2017
Trees in relation to construction
30th August 2017Trees, forests, woodlands…and nemus?
Forests are often romanticised as lying beyond the confines of the civic world and its institutions of law. But the word ‘forest’ in fact originates as a juridical term. The word foresta referred not to woodlands in general but only to the royal game preserves. The Latin forestare meant ‘to keep out, to place off limits, to exclude.’ A ‘forest’ then, refers to land that had been placed off limits by a royal decree. Once a region had been declared a forest, it could not be encroached upon. It lay outside the public domain, reserved for the king’s pleasure and recreation.
The king hunting in the forests
In Roman documents, as well as in the earlier acts of the Middle Ages, the standard word for woodlands was nemus, which meant a forest enclosing pastures, groves or a group of trees considered to be sacred.
This Painting shows the ancient sacred grove at Nemi near Rome, Italy. The name Nemi comes from the Latin nemus. The grove was the site of one of the most famous of Roman cults and temples.
Painting of the sacred grove at Nemi in Italy.
Sacred groves were most prominent in prehistoric Europe, but still feature in various cultures throughout the world. During the Northern Crusades, there was a common practice of building churches on the sites of sacred groves.
So, basically, a forest was off limits and only for the King to hunt in, whilst a nemus was more of a wildwood and sacred woodland for the common folk.
Nemus
Adam
I'm a Chartered Arboriculturist at AWA Tree Consultants Ltd. As well as detailing our recent tree survey and arboricultural consultant work, this blog includes wide ranging arboricultural musings, including tree facts, opinion and anecdotes on trees in human culture.
