solitude French · revision 17545

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1213, Faits des Romains|origins=la sōlus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɔ.li.tyd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''solitude''' ''f'' (plural solitudes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|la|sōlitūdō|t=solitude; loneliness; deserted place]], from [[m|la|sōlus|t=alone]] (see [[seul]]).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|12, 61a) Bloch and Wartburg note that it was rare before the 16th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Faits des Romains'' (1213) speak of the ''solitude de desert'', the state of an uninhabited place.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Brunetto Latini (1265) uses it for a deserted place, ''les grandesimes solitudes et les terres desabitees'', and about 1409 it is a place where one lives withdrawn from the world.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) The ''Ménagier de Paris'' (about 1393) applies it to a person: a man who ''amoit fort solitude'' and wanted no marriage; the GLLF notes that this sense was rare before Monet (1636).^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Voiture (1633) has ''l'ennui et la solitude'' for the feeling of being lonely, a sense developed by the Romantics: Vigny calls solitude ''sainte'', and Baudelaire writes of knowing how to people one's solitude.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''Solitude à deux'' is the isolation of a couple.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1213 – The state of a deserted place, in the ''Faits des Romains''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1265 – A deserted place, in Brunetto Latini.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1393 – Of a person living alone, in the ''Ménagier de Paris''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1409 – A place of retreat.^(TLFi)

+ * 1633 – The feeling of loneliness, in Voiture.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|solitude|alt=Solitude]], the state of being alone: ''aimer la solitude'', ''vivre dans la solitude''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # [[m|en|loneliness|alt=Loneliness]], the feeling of being alone and cut off: ''solitude morale''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The quality of a lonely place: ''la solitude des forêts''.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(literary)'' A lonely place; a [[m|en|wilderness]].^(Larousse)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[solitaire]]

+ * [[seul]]

+ * [[la|sōlitūdō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}