r/AskEurope • u/orthoxerox Russia • 1d ago
Language Do you have words in your language for forests/groves made up of a single type of tree?
Like, a word that means "pine forest" or "birch forest"?
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u/Gaeilgeoir_66 1d ago
In Finnish, of course, such as männikkö "pine wood".
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u/HarryCumpole Finland 1d ago edited 21h ago
Archaic names (-isto/istö) in parentheses, otherwise follows ikko/ikkö form.
Kuusikko (kuusisto) - Spruce
Männikö/mäntymetsä (männistö) - Pine
Koivikko (koivisto) - Birch
Haavikko (haavisto) - Aspen
Leppikkö (lepistö) - Alder
Tammikko (tammisto) - Oak
Pihlajikko - Rowan
Raidikko - Willow
Vaahterikko - Maple
Lehmikko - Linden
Jalavikko - Elm
I don't recall hearing the archaic forms for the last few, but grammatically they should stand (no joke intended).
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u/QuizasManana Finland 1d ago
For willow, I’d say pajukko is way more used than raidikko.
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u/HarryCumpole Finland 21h ago
Agreed. I learnt this is trade school ten years ago, Finnish is not my first language.
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u/Cixila Denmark 1d ago
In Danish we'd just compound it. Birkeskov (forest of birches), egeskov (forest of oaks), etc
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u/GeronimoDK Denmark 1d ago
Compound words are standard in Danish, so you could also take the word for plantation and make a word for an apple plantation "æbleplantage".
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u/mark-haus Sweden 3h ago
Same for us, our word for forest is just -skog. Compound words for the win.
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u/Purex47 1d ago
In Portuguese:
Pine Forest = Pinhal
Eucalyptus Forest = Eucaliptal
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u/safeinthecity Portuguese in the Netherlands 1d ago
Olival for olive trees. Basically take a tree name (or part of it) and add 'al'.
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u/H_Doofenschmirtz Portugal 1d ago
Yup
Pinhal (pines)
Eucaliptal (eucalyptus)
Olival (olives)
Laranjal (oranges)
Carvalhal (oaks)
Azinhal (holly oak)
Sobral (cork oak, also soveral and sobreiral)
And the list goes on and on
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u/Neveed France 1d ago edited 1d ago
In French there are words for a place with only one type of tree or plant, whether it's a forest or a plantation.
Pinède -> pine trees (pins)
Sapinière -> fir trees (sapins)
Saulaie -> willow trees (saules)
Chênaie -> oak trees (chênes)
Oliveraie -> olive trees (oliviers)
Palmeraie -> Palm tree (palmiers)
etc
Note that the suffix -aie isn't only about trees, it works with other types of plants like bushes or flowers.
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u/noCoolNameLeft42 France 1d ago
Je découvre chênaie, j'ai toujours dit chêneraie
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u/carlosdsf Frantuguês 23h ago
About Le Chesnay:
Le nom de la localité est attesté sous les formes latines Canoilum en 1122, Chesneium, Chesnetum au XIIIe siècle[3] et Le Chenay en 1793[4].
Le toponyme Le Chesnay est une forme archaïque pour « la Chênaie » en ancien français. Le suffixe gallo-roman -ETU(m) a abouti à -ey/-ay, masculin, et -ETA > -aye > -aie, féminin. Ce suffixe à valeur collective, sert à désigner un « ensemble d'arbres appartenant à la même espèce ». Le mot chêne (anciennement chaisne > chesne) est issu du gaulois cassanos[5].
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u/Neveed France 22h ago
C'est pas des chêniers, c'est des chênes.
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u/noCoolNameLeft42 France 21h ago
Désolé mais je mange des chocolatines dans des chêneraies. J'ai cherché "chênaie ou chêneraie" et le résultat "usage plus rare et régional" m'a fait comprendre que c'est encore un truc de gens près de la Garonne.
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u/Neveed France 20h ago
J'habite pas à Toulouse depuis assez longtemps pour avoir entendu "chêneraie" mais je suis prêt à te croire. Cela dit, en général, on met -eraie quand l'arbre finit en -ier.
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u/noCoolNameLeft42 France 20h ago
Ha mais je comprends la logique et ça me semble bien. On m'a juste appris comme ça et il y a un truc vers chez moi qui s'appelait la chêneraie. Je ferai un effort à l'avenir
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u/orthoxerox Russia 1d ago
For Russian I can name "bor", which is a pine forest, specifically one growing on dry, sandy soil, and "rośa", which is usually translated as "grove", but means a small standalone forest of leafy trees of the same species.
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u/goodoverlord Russia 1d ago
Дубрава/dubrava - oak forest
Березняк/bereznyak - birch forest
Ельник/yel'nik - spruce forest
Bor is typically a pine or spruce forest with dry soil, as you noted, located on elevated land. And bors usually have little to no undergrowth.
Apart from роща/roshcha there's also чаща/chashcha and пуща/pushcha.
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u/goodoverlord Russia 1d ago
And there are words like yablonnik or grushovnik for apple or pear orchards respectfully.
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u/Spanks79 1d ago
In Dutch we have some words, but it’s more a contraction of a wood, forest, bush and the type of wood. Like Eikenbos, Naaldwoud…
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u/viktorbir Catalonia 1d ago
Yeah, a couple of sufixes do the job.
- pi -> pineda (pine forest)
- roure -> roureda (oak forest)
- salze -> salzereda (willow forest)
- castanyer -> castanyeda / castanyar (chestnut forest)
- alzina -> alzineda / alzinar (holm oak forest)
- taronger -> taronjar / tarongerar (orange grove)
- pomer / pomera -> pomar / pomerar (apple grove)
- oliver / olivera -> olivar / oliverar (olive grove)
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u/kubisfowler 1d ago
Merci!! This explains town names like Pineda de Mar near where I live ;)
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u/viktorbir Catalonia 17h ago
Wow! You live there and didn't know this? For how long have you been here?
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u/kubisfowler 16h ago
I'm not Catalan or Spanish. I've lived in Barcelona for a bit over a year. While I did look up some of the names like Torrassa or Clot in a Catalan dictionary, it didn't even occur to me Pineda might be related to trees. Then again, trees are not the first and last thing I talk about in either language on any given day.
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u/Fluffy-Republic8610 1d ago edited 1d ago
If it's only one tree type it's usually a "plantation". Because it wouldn't usually occur naturally.
If it's a forest of one type of tree it's usually a tree farm for timber.
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u/MrDilbert Croatia 1d ago
Technically, you could add a suffix "-ik" to some tree types to get the "forest/grove of" word, e.g. vrbik, brezik, borik, but I think those words would not be widely used, and in some cases would even sound weird and "invented", e.g. hrastik or bukvik.
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u/rmvandink Netherlands 1d ago edited 19h ago
Well, that’s simple
Dennenbos, berkenbos, eikenbos.
Bos = woods. Stick whatever tree in front of it and Bob is your uncle.
Bos not bis. Thick thumbs, mobile phone
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u/IcyTundra001 21h ago
Dennenbis, berkenbis
I'm sure it's a typo, but to be clear: it's dennenbos, berkenbos (not bis).
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u/oligosocial 1d ago
🇮🇹 Pineta= pine wood Querceto = oak wood Castagneto = Chestnut wood Pioppeto = poplar wood Abetaia=fir wood Oliveto= olive trees wood Limonaia= lemon trees orchard Aranceto= orante trees orchard ...
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u/Heidi739 Czechia 1d ago
Not really, but we do have old words that suggest whether the forest is made up of trees with leaves or with needles (I honestly don't know the correct words in English, sorry). "Bor" has the same root as "borovice" (pine) and suggests the forest is made of pines or similar trees. We also have "luh" which is the opposite, it's a forest made of trees with leaves and it's most likely near some water, like around a river. "Háj" also sounds like it has leaves, but no river. But none of those words are used in normal speech, we usually just say "les" (forest).
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u/CrypticLurkerCZ Czechia 1d ago
We actually do have words for forests composed mostly of one tree species, although I don't think they're very widely used. For example, adding to the bor for pine forest, I also remember:
spruce forest = smrčina
fir forest = jedlina
oak forest = doubrava
beech forest = bučina
hornbeam forest = habřina
And so on
Also, when the forest is mostly composed of two roughly evenly distributed species, it can be described with a combined word, for example:
oak and hornbeam = dubohabřina
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u/Heidi739 Czechia 1d ago
I must admit that apart from doubrava (since Doubravka is an old female name), I never heard any of those words. Like, I believe you didn't make them up :D but I've never seen them used, not even in very old books. So thanks for the information.
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u/cototudelam 23h ago
cries in botanical our school system failed you.
Just this summer we went to “Jizerské bučiny” (a remnant of a prehistoric beech forest that used to cover most of central Europe). Highly recommended, at the right sun angle it’s just like Lothlorien.
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u/kubisfowler 1d ago
Dúbravka is also the name of an old town now part of Bratislava (but I never knew what the word meant). Bory is now also a developing part of Bratislava near where I live, where historically there have been pine forests all the way north to Morava.
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u/ErebusXVII Czechia 21h ago edited 21h ago
Please at least tell you me you are from Prague, this is kind of ignorance I wouldn't expect to see anywhere else.
Also - Březí/Březina, Javoří/Javořina, Dubí/Dubina atd. Smrčina can can also be Smrčí. Bučina can be Bučí.
Most of these also exist as names of towns and villages. How could you not heard it.
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u/Heidi739 Czechia 21h ago
Why so aggresive? I'm not a botanic and I'm not interested in trees besides liking to walk around them. Sure there are names like that, but how would I know it's not simply named after the tree? I read a lot and I consider myself an educated person, but I simply never came across this. Btw no, I'm definitely not from Prague and I'm kinda insulted by that assumption.
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u/ErebusXVII Czechia 20h ago edited 20h ago
This has nothing to do with botany, that's knowing your native language. It's not even a dialect thing. Just a case of lacking vocabulary.
One such word is even right in our national anthem, at least you recalled that. But apparently you never cared about it's meaning. That's sadly quite common thing, because if people knew what "Bory" means, they wouldn't make the "Bory šumí po lučinách" mistake so often.
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u/Heidi739 Czechia 18h ago
Wow, well then sorry for insulting you by my dumbness 🙄 I'm sure you're perfect and never lacked any knowledge.
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u/orthoxerox Russia 1d ago
We also have "luh" which is the opposite, it's a forest made of trees with leaves and it's most likely near some water, like around a river.
What do you call a meadow, then? We say "lug" for "meadow" and "log" for "hollow", which sounds close to your "luh".
Edit: I've realized we also have "gaj", but it's just a small forest of any kind in an otherwise treeless land.
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u/Heidi739 Czechia 1d ago
Meadow is "louka". I belive the word luh has more to do with lowlands than with forests - I looked up the official definition and it can actually mean meadows as well. It's basically the lowland around a big river, the wet, often flooded part of land. But louka is neutral, it doesn't have to be in lowlands or near a river, it's simply natural piece of grassy land.
And yeah, háj in Czech does feel that way as well, like a smaller, clearly defined piece of forest.
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany 1d ago
Laubwald, Nadelwald, Tannenwald etc.
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u/Lari-Fari 1d ago
No that’s not it. A Laubwald can have many types of Laubbäume.
The German version of what op means would be
Eichenhain
Birkenhain
Buchenhain
Etc…
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany 1d ago
You say Hain? We say Wald.
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u/Lari-Fari 1d ago
A Hain is just a specific type of forrest. It translates to grove as in OPs question.
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u/spryfigure Germany 20h ago
Hain is a small forest, doesn't need to be specific.
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u/Lari-Fari 20h ago
Specific what?
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u/spryfigure Germany 20h ago
... to be a specific species of trees. But I see now that 'specific type of forest' can also refer to the size, not only the kind of trees, so you were right.
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u/Lari-Fari 20h ago
Oh yeah that’s what I meant. As stated above the specific type of tree needs to be added when needed. :)
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany 1d ago
Fine, but we still say Wald….Tannenwald, Fichtenwald, Eichenwald….
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u/Lari-Fari 1d ago
Sure. Unless you want to be more specific and are talking about a grove/Hain that is.
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany 1d ago
Not here, but it gets boring.
Have a nice day.
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u/Lari-Fari 1d ago
No one is forcing you to use specific words. And no one forced you to start a pointless argument about it. ;)
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u/spryfigure Germany 20h ago
Hain ist ein Wäldchen, heutzutage nur noch ein archaisch/poetischer Ausdruck.
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u/everynameisalreadyta Hungary 1d ago
I don't think that op means this. Every language can do this I suppose. What he means is a single word (kein zusammengesetztes).
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u/Equal-Flatworm-378 Germany 1d ago
Most words in the German language are compound words. Especially if you want to be very specific about something. That’s just the words we use.
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u/everynameisalreadyta Hungary 1d ago
What you mean it's that in German your can have very broad variety of compound words with almost unlimited possibilities, which is indeed quite unique.
Still there are single words that can have a very specific meaning, that other languages might not have. An example that comes to mind is der Freier, a person that visits prostitutes or kiffen meaning smoking marijuana.
Words that don't explicitly carry the exact meaning like Fichtenwald.
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u/FirmRelease6531 1d ago
Idk what your problem is honestly. OP asked for words that describe forests with only one type of tree, and these exist in German.
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u/Old_Pangolin_3303 1d ago
Fun fact: Freier is used in both Russian and Ukrainian prison jargon. It means a guy who is not part of the underworld but is showing off. A potential victim of those who are indeed from the underworld
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u/R2-Scotia Scotland 1d ago
You can say things like "orange grovr: or "pine forest" using the tree type as an adjectivr. Scientifically "monoculture".
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u/Vigmod Icelander in Norway 1d ago
Technically yes, because we can simply take the word for "forest" ("skógur") and then can put the name of the tree type in front of it, so e.g. "birkiskógur" for birch forest, or "eikarskógur" for oak forest. And so on.
But there.are no unique words, I don't think.
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u/CakePhool Sweden 1d ago
In Swedish we have words for just pineforest = Tallskog or birch forest = Björkskog and so goes for every tree type we have, except fruit trees.
We also have lövskog ( leaf forest) = different leaf bearing trees and also barrskog = needle tree forest, like pine, spruce and juniper.
And we have trollforest too, trollskog.
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u/Razulath Sweden 1d ago
Also blandskog - mixed Forrest, both leaf and needle trees.
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u/CakePhool Sweden 1d ago
I forgot that one! Oh Fjällskog ! Fjäll are moutains in the north of Sweden.
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u/Razulath Sweden 1d ago
Urskog - untouched Forrest. Forrest that has not had forestry activity.
Landhöjningsskog - Forrest that come from new land due to the land rising from the sea ( due to the ice age pressed the land down, now it's rising up to 10mm per year.) one of the only Forrest that hasn't had forestry activity so people in the business jokingly call it urskog
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u/CakePhool Sweden 1d ago
In a land with a lot forest, no wonder we have many names for a forest. Dont forget Naturskog, I am not clear what it is, but we have one near where I live.
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u/Randomswedishdude Sweden 1d ago edited 23h ago
I feel like, all the -skog types are in part both an answer to OP's question, but in part also not...
I mean, the name "skog" is all the same, even if compounded to specify what type of forest it is, or what the purpose of it is in the conversation.Alskog, Bokskog, Björkskog, Fjällbjörkskog, Granskog, Tallskog, Furuskog, Ekskog, Ädellövskog, Lövskog, Barrskog, Blandskog, Snårskog, Fjällskog, Regnskog, Urskog, Gammelskog, Avverkningsskog, Svampskog, Bärskog, Lingonskog, etcetera, and so on, und so weiter, och så vidare...
There may be some more archaic terms for certain specific type of skog, but I can't really come up with many...
There are a few different sizes from "dunge", "lund", "hult" (archaic), all smaller than an actual "skog".
Then on the other end the vast international "taiga" (where taiga is a russian loanword, of mongolian origin).But for different types of forests, I can't come up with many own words that aren't compound words...
"Hed" is one, for a sandy and dry sparse land which may be forested, e.g a tallhed.I did with various google searches find "ry"; a dense leafy forest near a fell, particularly birch.
In either case, when talking forests, just make sure to note the difference between älgskog and älskog.
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u/CakePhool Sweden 23h ago
Älskog i en älgskog can be interesting.
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u/Randomswedishdude Sweden 23h ago
For whatever reason, I came to think of an old Facebook group called "Bedrövlig Konst" (="Deplorable Art").
And this abomination in particular:
https://i.imgur.com/DlKNRgA.jpeg3
u/CakePhool Sweden 23h ago
Oh dear. My mum got young horny Moose/ European Elk / Alces Alces on her, he tried to mount her when she was picking blueberries. That is the fastest ,my mum has ever climb a tree.
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u/Boing78 Germany 1d ago edited 1d ago
In German "Monokultur" is a word, which basically means "only one sort of plant is growing in that particular area/field" etc.
Especially in forest treatment this is/was normal. Sometimes decades if not centuries ago, a certain type of tree was planted for different reasons. Always planed to be harvested at some time. We now often face so called environmental activists who say "this forest can't be chopped down" even though it always was planned to be chopped.
The opposite is a naturally grown "Mischwald", lit. a mixture of diffenrent naturally grown trees ( like pines+oaks+spruces+beech). This ones are overseen by specialists (Förster) figuring out diseases and cutting out infected trees to keep the rest healthy. This type of forests is a bit more "sacret" now as it is beneficial for nature and helps against climate change.
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u/elektrolu_ Spain 1d ago
In Spanish:
Pinar/pineda: for pine trees.
Olivar: for olive trees
Robledal/robledo: for oak trees.
Castañar/castañedo: for chesnut trees.
Olmedo/olmeda: for elm trees.
Alcornocal: for cork oak trees.
Encinar: for holm oak trees.
There are more, they are for with the name of the tree and the prefix al/ar/do/da
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u/Reckless_Waifu Czechia 1d ago
We have "pine woods" (bory) mentioned in our national anthem. There are words for other types as well.
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u/Malthesse Sweden 23h ago
We have boke or boge which is a beech grove or small forest of beech trees. I think it's probably most commonly used here in Scania in southernmost Sweden.
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u/OnkelMickwald Sweden 22h ago
Down here in southern Sweden and parts of Denmark, böge or bøge is the word for a beech wood.
Bög is also modern Swedish for a gay man so you can guess why It remember this. I also know that "eke" is oak forest from "ek" — oak.
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u/Tipsticks Germany 21h ago
In german you'd just say 'Wald'(wood) or 'Hain'(grove) with the name of the tree species as a prefix.
There is also 'Forst', which is for a forest currently or recently used as a tree farm, which are also often single species, in which case they're often described as 'Monokuktur'.
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u/icyDinosaur Switzerland 20h ago
German compounds, as you would expect from German - Eichenwald = oak forest, Tannenwald = fir forest, Buchenwald = beech forest etc.
You can also do this with categories of trees: Nadelwald = coniferous forest, or even Mischwald ("mixed forest") for one that has a mix of coniferous and leafy trees.
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u/ChillySunny Lithuania 20h ago
Yes.
Beržynas - Birch forest,
Pušynas - Pine forest,
Eglynas - Spruce forest,
Ąžuolynas - Oak forest...
Works with every tree, jus as "-ynas" suffix (obviously some words don't really exist in Lithuanian language, like "eukaliptynas", simply because eucalyptus don't grow in Lithuania, but people would understand what you mean).
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u/Consistent_Catch9917 Austria 19h ago
Yes, as with every other word we need, we can just combine them.
So
birch forest = Birkenwald oak foresr = Eichenwald
etc.
You can do that with every type of tree in German.
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u/Dic_Penderyn 18h ago
In English, there is the word 'oakwood'. You could say 'There is an ancient oakwood two miles north from here'.
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u/Cicada-4A Norway 8h ago
Sure.
Granskog = Spruce forest
Furuskog = Pine forest
Lauvskog/Løvskog = Leaf forest
Bjørkeskog = Birch forest
You get the point.
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u/Eilmorel 23m ago edited 18m ago
mmm...
Pineta = pine forest
Querceto = oak forest
are the only ones I can think about at the moment. otherwise we generally just say "bosco/ foresta di + name of the tree", for example "bosco di noccioli" (hazelnut forest)
eta: I just remembered that for fruit trees, you can sometimes take the name of most trees and add "eto" at the end to indicate an orchard. ex- Oliveto (olive tree orchard) aranceto (orange tree orchard). as far as I know there isn't a definite rule that tells you when you can do that. you can't for example say "ciliegeto" (cherry tree forest), but you can say "meleto" (apple orchard)
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u/Tiana_frogprincess Sweden 1d ago
We have lövskog which is a forest made up by trees that have leafs (no needle trees like pine trees)
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u/LAyersFur Poland 23h ago
Yep, and it's the same as in English, but in Polish.
For example,
Las dębowy - oak forest
Las brzozowy - birch forest
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u/DaTrickster 1d ago
Of course
Pineda or Pinar = pine forest
Alameda = poplar forest
Robledal = oak forest
Olmeda = elm grove
Encinar = holm oak forest
Hayedo = beech forest
Fresneda = ash grove
Avellaneda = hazel grove
and so on