Liberal Dictionary English Dictionary
adjective
- denoting a period of mountain building in Europe in the late Palaeozoic
1580s, designating the forest-covered mountains of ancient Germany, from Latin Hercynia (silva) “Hercynian (forest),” related to Greek Orkynios drymos, probably from Old Celtic *Perkunya, from PIE *perq(o)- “oak, oak forest, wooded mountain” (see fir).