If we take a recluse, with their state of seclusion unknown, is their condition self-inflicted? Or is reclusion a punishment?
For example, (from www.thefreedictionary.com)
re·clu·sion (r-klzhn)
n.
- The condition of being a recluse.
- The state of being in solitary confinement.
Is the solitary confinement self inflicted? Or is reclusiveness a state that's been imposed on a wrongdoer (by law or similar)?
The term is used to refer to a recluse with the meaning shown below, with reference to self-inflicted confinement rather than externally imposed punishment:
Recluse:(n) Etymonline.com
- c.1200, "person shut up from the world for purposes of religious meditation," from Old French reclus (fem. recluse) "hermit, recluse," also "confinement, prison; convent, monastery," noun use of reclus (adj.) "shut up," from Late Latin reclusus, past participle of recludere "to shut up, enclose" (but in classical Latin "to throw open"), from Latin re-, intensive prefix, + claudere "to shut" (see close (v.)).
- a person who lives in seclusion
- (Ecclesiastical Terms) a person who lives in solitude to devote himself to prayer and religious meditation; a hermit, anchorite, or anchoress adj
- solitary; retiring
Source:http://www.thefreedictionary.com/recluse
As a legal term it means Imprisonment:
- Reclusion is a term used to refer to incarceration as a punishment for crime. Solitary confinement in prison is reclusion. It consists of being confined at hard labor in a penal institution, and carries civil degradation.
reclusion
noun
the condition or life of a recluse.
an act of shutting or the state of being shut up in seclusion. -DICTIONARY DOT COM
I've never heard of forced reclusion, since reclusion itself is never used as a punishment and is almost always voluntary.
but....after doing some research....it looks like I'm wrong...
Reclusion is a term used to refer to incarceration as a punishment for crime. Solitary confinement in prison is reclusion. It consists of being confined at hard labor in a penal institution, and carries civil degradation. -US LEGAL
Your link to reclusion lists the following definitions:
re•clu•sion (rɪˈklu ʒən) n
The condition of being a recluse.
Punishment involving civil degradation (as in the loss of the right to own property) and incarceration with hard labor.
the act of going or putting into seclusion or the state of being secluded or solitary.
the state of living apart from society, like a hermit. — recluse, n. — reclusive, adj.
My highlighted parts of the definition, as well as Josh61's first two block quotes would point to a voluntary reclusion being a strong possibility currently as well as historically.
The "2" definition above speaks to loss of civil rights and incarceration (with hard labor) not specifically to solitary confinement.
The definition provided by both Josh61 and User3306356 mention solitary confinement but is is a narrowing (in a sense reculsion from reclusion) of the broader definition which is incarceration as a punishment. In some locations the loss of civil rights survives incarceration - loss of voting privileges in some US states for example.
Your word explanation is specifically a legal one linked to your punishment system (USA). Reclusion has a more general, also a religious meaning and root thus: shutting oneself away viz: a recluse.
