Etymologically
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reclusus

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Forms

reclūsus, reclūsa, reclūsum (perfect passive participle of reclūdō); as a noun m (genitive reclūsī), second declension[1][2][3] The feminine noun is reclusa.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin reclūdō, its perfect passive participle.[1][5][6] In Classical Latin that verb, from re- and claudō (“to shut”), meant “to open”; in Late Latin it also meant “to shut up, enclose”, and the participle in that sense gave the medieval adjective and noun.[7][8]

It passed into Old French as reclus (“hermit, recluse”), the source of English recluse.[8] The Italian recluso continues it too.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a participle it is Classical: Köbler cites it from Statius in the sense “opened, laid open”.[2] As a noun meaning a recluse or a prisoner, Köbler records it in the acts of a church council of 533, in Gregory of Tours and in the capitularies.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Christian Latin reclusus became the name of an anchorite, a person shut in a cell to live for God alone.[3][10] Niermeyer gives it both as an adjective, “living as a recluse”, and as a noun, with the feminine reclusa, meaning a prisoner as well as a recluse.[4] Köbler dates the adjectival sense from Pope Stephen II.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses the participle in the classical sense “opened”.[2]
  • 533 – A church council uses it as a noun.[2]
  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it as a noun.[2]
  • 752–757 – Pope Stephen II uses it as an adjective, “living as a recluse”.[2]
  • c. 1200 – English recluse appears, from Old French reclus.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Classical) Opened, laid open (participle of reclūdō).[2][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Living as a recluse, cloistered.[4][2]

Noun

  1. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A recluse, anchorite.[3][4][10]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A prisoner.[4][2]

Usage notes

British Medieval Latin also has a fourth-declension noun reclūsus, -ūs, the state of a recluse, monastic seclusion,[6] and Köbler records a sense “a recluse's cell”, which Du Cange gives as reclusus, -us.[2][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  4. ^ a b c d e Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b c du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre