1776, “dense growth of trees and other tangled vegetation,” such as that of some regions in India, from Hindi jangal “desert, forest, wasteland, uncultivated ground,” from Sanskrit jangala-s “arid, sparsely grown with trees,” a word of unknown origin.
I can’t tell if you meant to say “uninhibitated” or “uninhabited.” I get the impression you meant the latter, which would be in line with the idea of “desert” or “wasteland.”
Either way, the history of the word jungle reveals that its root might have applied to what we’d call today a savanna, which is where lions live. So, the title “King of the Jungle” could have made sense for lions at some point.
Also, jungles’ original meaning is just “uninhibited.” So vast plains counted, too.
Jungle
Source: Etymonline
I can’t tell if you meant to say “uninhibitated” or “uninhabited.” I get the impression you meant the latter, which would be in line with the idea of “desert” or “wasteland.”
Either way, the history of the word jungle reveals that its root might have applied to what we’d call today a savanna, which is where lions live. So, the title “King of the Jungle” could have made sense for lions at some point.
Thanks for doing the research! Fun fact!
So Northern Canada is the Jungles?
Antarctica is a desert
So is a decent portion of the Canadian arctic
Many parts of Appalachia are rain forests too
Just learned some about that a few months back! What a trip. I saw videos of places that were more fecund than NW Florida!
The east coast of the USA is actually really interesting as a temperate rainforest in many parts.
The Paw Paw is a crazy tropical tasting / seeming fruit that is endemic to the eastern half of the USA and much of Central America.
It’s making a comeback
Below the tree line maybe.