clusa

Forms

clūsa f (genitive clūsae); first declension^[1][2] Niermeyer gives it also as clausa.^[3] The MLW records the spellings chlusa, clousa, clusia and culsa, and notes that the plural is often used with a singular meaning.^[2]

Etymology

It is the participle of claudō (“to shut, close”), in the form ⟨clūsus⟩, used as a feminine noun.^[3][1][2][4] The GMLC treats it as an old variant of ⟨clausa⟩ that became a word of its own once it was specialised for the mountain pass, and suggests that the feminine may come from a neuter plural.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from the laws of the Lombards of 746,^[1] which order that the clūsae that have broken down be restored and guarded, and punish those who let thieves pass beyond them.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense was a narrow mountain pass, especially the Alpine passes into Italy, and the road through it:^[3][2][5] the continuator of Fredegar speaks of the clūsae called the Susa valley, and the Frankish royal annals report that all the approaches to Italy, the clūsae, were secured with garrisons.^[2][6] From the pass it came to mean the fortification or barrier that closed such a road or a frontier, with its guards,^[3][2] and the toll paid there: merchants paid a tenth at the clūsae.^[2] Liutprand uses it of the barriers that separated the Hungarians from Italy, “which the people call clūsae”.^[2][6] In charters it marks boundaries, and it survives in place names.^[2]

Other medieval senses come from the idea of shutting in: a dam or weir holding back water, as at a mill,^[2][6][7] a fence or enclosure, a ring of walls,^[2] an enclosed plot or vineyard,^[2][1] and the cell of a recluse.^[2][6] It passed into Old High German klūsa “enclosure, hermitage, mountain pass”, the source of German Klause.^[1]

Timeline

• 746 – The laws of the Lombards order broken-down clūsae to be repaired and guarded.^[1][2]
• 753 – A charter of the Lombard king Aistulf names the clūsae of his kingdom beside its towns.^[6]
• 817 – The Frankish royal annals, under this year, tell of the passes into Italy being secured.^[2][6]
• 916 – A charter from the county of Barcelona speaks of land “on this side of the clūsae of Spain”.^[5]
• 1171 – A charter forbids raising any clūsa to hold back the water.^[6]
• 1344 – A charter speaks of nuns living enclosed in their clūsa beside a chapel.^[6]
• 1447 – A Polish record mentions a mill without a sluice.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A narrow mountain pass, a defile; the road through it.^[3][2][6][5]
2. (Medieval Latin) A fortification or barrier blocking a mountain road or frontier; a toll station there.^[3][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A dam, weir or sluice, especially of a mill.^[2][6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) An enclosure, a fence; a ring of walls.^[2][1]
5. (Medieval Latin) The cell of a recluse.^[2][6]
6. (Medieval Latin) An enclosed plot or vineyard (in names of places).^[2][1]

Related words

• claudō
• exclūsa
• clausūra
• German Klause

Usage notes

The TLL's register of names lists Clūsae as a place in the Vallis Poenina, where, according to the chronicle of Marius of Avenches, the Lombards once more entered the valley and held the Clūsae.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl