solitudo

Forms

sōlitūdō f (genitive sōlitūdinis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin sōlus (“alone”) + -tūdō.^[2][1][3] The origin of sōlus is uncertain: de Vaan rejects the link with the reflexive ⟨*s(w)e⟩ “apart” that Walde and Hofmann, Pokorny and Ernout and Meillet proposed, and mentions a Gothic adjective for “happy” and the root of salvus and sollus (“whole”) as possibilities.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who uses it for being without friends: sōlitūdine ego tēd atque ab egestāte apstulī, “I took you away from loneliness and want”.^[2] Terence has it for being alone with someone.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Sōlitūdō is the state of being alone, solitude, and the state of having no friends or protectors, loneliness, forlornness (Plautus).^[2][5] Of places it is emptiness, the deserted state of a place (Terence: sōlitūdō ante ōstium, “nobody at the door”), and then a deserted region, a desert or wilderness, usually in the plural (Cicero: saxa atque sōlitūdinēs vōcī respondent).^[2][5][1] It also means want, destitution.^[1]

Döderlein says that sōlitūdō is the solitude of a place, neutral or praised, while vāsta, dēserta and tesca loca are words of blame.^[6] Church Latin glosses it “solitude, loneliness, wilderness”.^[7] English solitude (mid-14th century) comes from it, partly through Old French.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: sōlitūdine ego tēd … apstulī.^[2][4][8]
• 190–159 BC – Terence: sōlitūdō ante ōstium.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: saxa atque sōlitūdinēs vōcī respondent.^[2][8]
• mid-14th century – English solitude.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Solitude, being alone.^[2][5][1][7]
2. Loneliness, lack of friends or protectors.^[2][1][7]
3. Emptiness, the deserted state (of a place).^[2]
4. A desert, wilderness.^[2][5][1][7]
5. Want, destitution.^[1]

Related words

• sōlicanus
• sōliloquium
• sōlitāneus
• sōlitārius
• sōlitās
• sōlitātim
• sōlum
• sōlummodo
• sōlus
• dēsertum
• English solitude

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de