Hurst, Orchard, Park, Parkland: Origins, Forms, Histories of Words Meaning Woodland

The natural features of a region are its topography (Greek topos, "place"). An important type of topographic feature is woodland.

Woods of various kinds and sizes, as well as related natural and human-made features, have many different names. In the current alphabetic series of such terms, here are the origins, forms, and histories of hurst, orchard, park, and parkland.

Hurst
Modern English hurst comes from Middle English hurst (13th century), from Old English hyrst (before 12th century). The word is akin to Old High German hurst ("thicket").

Since the Old English period (before 12th century), hurst has denoted eminences, such as a hillock or a bank; woods, such as a grove or a copse; and a combination of both features, such as a wooded knoll.

Orchard
Modern English orchard comes from Middle English orchard (13th century), from Old English ortgeard (before 12th century). The Old English word is a combination of ort- (from Latin hortus, "garden") and geard ("yard").

An enclosed piece of ground for the cultivation of fruit trees or nut trees is an orchard (c. 1000). The word also applies to the trees themselves collectively.

Park
Modern English park comes from Middle English park (13th century) and parc (13th century), from Old French parc ("enclosure"), from Medieval Latin parricus ("enclosure"), perhaps from Latin pertica ("measuring rod"), hence the parcel of land measured with such a rod.

The original meaning of park is an enclosed piece of largely wooded land stocked with game and held by royal grant or prescription in England (13th century). A park was distinguished from a forest or a chase by being enclosed, and from a forest by having no special laws or officers.

The above sense of park led to an extended meaning: a tract of land that usually includes woodland and pasture attached to a country house and used for keeping game (1715).

The principal meaning of park today is an enclosed piece of ground in or near a city or town kept for public recreation and ornament, usually including a large number of trees (1663).

Another important use of park is to denote an area maintained in its natural state, often including vast woods, as a public property, such as the United States national parks (1841).

Parkland
Land with clumps of cultivated shrubs and trees used, or suitable for use, as a park is a parkland (1907).
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Encyclopaedia Britannica Ready Reference 2004. CD-ROM. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2004.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. 11th ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2006.

Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary. 3rd ed. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 2007.

The Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1989.