Frith

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A state of calmness and quietude ; a location offering shelter and protection from danger
2. An atmosphere of harmony and absence of disturbance ; a safe area where one can find safety or asylum
3. A condition marked by peacefulness or stillness ; a refuge providing security and a retreat from harm

Etymology: Old English "friþ" meant "peace, tranquility, security, refuge," and the word has a second, unrelated life. Its distant ancestor is the Proto-Indo-European ""priHós," meaning "beloved, happy," so the same root that gave English a word for calm also sits behind the German "Frieden" and Dutch "vrede," which share its sense of peace. Related forms even reach "free," a connection that is easy to miss now that the modern word has narrowed toward quiet stillness. A separate word, also spelled "frith" in Middle English, meant "forest, woodland" or "hedging." It came from Old English "fyrhþe," tied to "fyrh," meaning fir or pine, and it traces back to a Proto-Indo-European word for oak, ""pérkus." Its Latin cousin "quercus" means oak, and the Latin "foresta," the source of English "forest," may have been borrowed from the same Germanic root. Because the two words were spelled alike, English speakers ended up with a peaceful state and a wooded tract sharing one form.