transylvania has had different names applied to it in several traditions. ==transylvania== the first reference to the region was as the medieval latin expression terra ultra silvam "land beyond the forest" in a document dating to 1075. the expression partes transsylvanÃ¦ "area beyond the forest" appears in the 12th century in legenda sancti gerhardi and subsequently as transsilvania in medieval documents of the hungarian kingdom. ==ardeal/erdÃ©ly== the names of ardeal in romanian and erdÃ©ly in hungarian are believed to be connected. however, the original source and meaning are disputed and claimed by both romanians and hungarians. the first hungarian form recorded was erdeuelu (12th century, in the gesta hungarorum), while the first romanian form recorded was in 1432 as ardeliu. the initial a/e difference between the names can be found in other hungarian loans in romanian, such as hung. egres âgooseberryâ â rom. agriÈ, agreÈ, as well as in placenames, e.g., egyed, erdÅd, erdÅfalva, eskÃ¼llÅ â adjud, ardud, ardeova, and aÈchileu. ===hungarian view=== the consensus of hungarian linguists and hungarian historians on the etymology of both erdÃ©ly and transylvania is as follows: * the modern hungarian form erdÃ©ly was derived from erdÅ-elÃ¼, literally âbeyond the forestâ. erdÅ means âwoods, forestâ, and the archaic elÃ¼ suffix meant âbeyondâ (modern reflexes: dialectal elvÃ© âbeyondâ, dialectal el, elv âthe place beyondâ) and was applied to a certain type of border region (gyepÅ±) and the associated social and economical organisation; for example, gyepÅ±elve (near ungvÃ¡r), and archaic havaselve âwallachiaâ, lit. "beyond the snowy mountains" (modern havasalfÃ¶ld), refers to a region lying beyond the carpathian mountains if viewed from hungary, and was under strong hungarian political influence during the middle ages. the elÃ¼/elve suffix suggests a point of view east of the carpathians, namely, the hungarians created these names in atelkuzu/etelkÃ¶z, long before they settled in the carpathian basin. * the medieval latin form ultrasylvania (1077), later transylvania (from an other point of view after the foundation of hungary in 895), was a direct translation from the hungarian form (rather than the hungarian being derived from the latin).engel, pÃ¡l (2001). realm of st. stephen: history of medieval hungary, 895â1526 (international library of historical studies), london: [[i.b. 
Exonyms History_of_Transylvania Names_of_places_in_Europe