The ethnographic books use the title “Meseș” for the southern part of the modern Sălaj county, however I have only heard people from this area identify as from “Sălaj” and never “Meseș” which is only the limited area near the mountains of this name. The Romanian name Sălaj may well be derived via the Hungarian Szilágy megye, which may in turn be derived from Silva, Latin for forest, which still remains in the Romanian place names in this area.