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Origin and history of solitude

solitude(n.)

"state of being alone, remoteness from society," mid-14c., from Old French solitude "loneliness" (14c.) and directly from Latin solitudinem (nominative solitudo) "loneliness, a being alone; lonely place, desert, wilderness," from solus "alone" (see sole (adj.)). "Not in common use in English until the 17th c." [OED]

A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; ... if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free. [Schopenhauer, "The World as Will and Idea," 1818]

Solitudinarian "recluse, unsocial person" is recorded from 1690s.

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to solitude

sole(adj.)

"single, alone in its kind; one and only, singular, unique; having no husband or wife, in an unmarried state; celibate," late 14c., from Old French soul "only, alone, just," from Latin solus "alone, only, single, sole; forsaken; extraordinary," a word of unknown origin, perhaps related to se "oneself," from PIE reflexive root *swo- (for which see so).

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    retirement
    Solitude is the condition of being absolutely alone, whether or not one has been with others, or desires to escape from them...Retirement is comparative solitude, produced by retiring, voluntarily or otherwise, from contact which one has had with others...
    hermit
    ermit "hermit, recluse," from Late Latin eremita, from Greek eremites, literally "person of the desert," from eremia "a solitude...Transferred sense of "person living in solitude" is from 1799. Related: Hermitic; hermitical....
    privacy
    Earlier was privatie (late 14c. as "secret, mystery;" c. 1400 as "a secret, secret deed; solitude, privacy"), from Old French...
    solitary
    Anglo-French solitarye and Old French solitaire, from Latin solitarius "alone, lonely, isolated," from solitas "loneliness, solitude...
    solitaire
    c. 1500, "widow;" 1716, "person who lives in solitude, recluse," from French solitaire, from Latin adjective solitarius "...
    monk
    in Church history were men who retired from the world for religious meditation and the practice of religious duties in solitude...
    secret
    from general knowledge;" from Latin secretum "secrecy; a mystery; a thing hidden; secret conversation," also "retirement, solitude...
    place
    c. 1200, "space, dimensional extent, room, area," from Old French place "place, spot" (12c.) and directly from Medieval Latin placea "place, spot," from Latin platea "courtyard, open space; broad way, avenue," from Greek plateia (hodos) "broad (way)," fem. of platys "broad," from
    post
    "a timber of considerable size set upright," from Old English post "pillar, doorpost," and from Old French post "post, upright beam," both from Latin postis "door, post, doorpost," in Medieval Latin "a beam, rod, pole," which is perhaps from Vulgar Latin *por- "forth," a variant
    spot
    c. 1200, "moral stain;" by mid-14c. as "speck, stain left by something on a surface;" probably at least in part from a variant of Old English splott "a spot, blot, patch (of land)," and partly from or related to Middle Dutch spotte "spot, speck." Other cognates are East Frisian s

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