Timberland is a compound of timber (Old English timber 'building material, wood') + land (Old English land), denoting forested land yielding timber. The historical chain includes Old English timber and Old English land. The quoted older sense, "building material, wood," supplies the immediate semantic anchor for timberland. The formation is best read as compound: the word timberland carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "land covered with forest suitable for producing timber". Related English forms include timber, land, and woodland. The result is a noun whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.