GC:

S: NCBI – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK537045/ (last access: 20 August 2024); Penn – https://extension.psu.edu/brown-recluse-spiders (last access: 20 August 2024).

N: 1. – brown (adj): Old English brun “dark, dusky,” developing a definite color sense from 13c., from Proto-Germanic *brunaz (source also of Old Norse brunn, Danish brun, Old Frisian and Old High German brun, Dutch bruin, German braun), from PIE root *bher- (2) “bright; brown.”

The Old English word also had a sense of “brightness, shining,” preserved only in burnish. The Germanic word was adopted into Romanic (Middle Latin brunus, Italian and Spanish bruno, French brun).

– recluse (n): c. 1200, “person shut up or withdrawn from the world and secular living for purposes of religious meditation,” originally and especially as a member of a religious community, from Old French reclus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-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see re-), + claudere “to shut” (see close (v.).

Also in part via Medieval Latin nouns reclusus, reclusa. By late 17c. in the secular and softened sense of “one who lives a retired life and mixes little in society.” Middle English also had a verb reclusen “to shut up (in some place), confine,” and the past-participle adjective reclused “living in seclusion” (c. 1200). Recluse as an adjective meaning “shut up or apart from the world” is attested from early 13c. Also in Middle English was reclusion “state of retirement from the world” (c. 1400), from Medieval Latin reclusionem.

– spider (n): late 14c., spydyr, spither, earlier spiþre, spiþur, spiþer (mid-14c.), from Old English spiðra, from Proto-Germanic *spin-thron- (cognate with Danish spinder), etymologically “spinner,” from PIE root *(s)pen- “to draw, stretch, spin” + formative or agential *-thro. The connection with the root is more transparent in other Germanic cognates, such as Middle Low German, Middle Dutch, Middle High German, German spinne, Dutch spin “spider.”

Not the common word in Old or Middle English, which identified the creatures as loppe (Chaucer’s usual word), lobbe. Old English also had atorcoppe (Middle English attercop, literally “poison-head”), and (from Latin aranea), renge; Middle English had araine, “spider,” via Old French from the same Latin word (see arachnid). Another Old English word was gangewifre “a weaver as he goes.”

In literature, often a figure of cunning, skill, and industry as well as venomous predation; in 17c. English used figuratively for venomousness and thread-spinning but also sensitivity (to vibrations), lurking, and independence. As the name for a type of two-pack solitaire, it is attested from 1890, probably based on resemblance of the layout of the decks in the original form of the game (see “Tarbart,” “Games of Patience,” 1901, p. 49).

Spider crab is from 1710, used of various species with long, slender legs and comparatively small bodies; the spider monkey (1764) is so called for its long limbs. Spider-catcher (1570s) was an old vague term of abuse.

2. brown recluse. Also known as: Loxosceles reclusa, violin spider.

• brown recluse, (Loxosceles reclusa), venomous light tan or yellow spider most common in the western and southern United States. It has a body length of about 7 mm (0.25 inch) and a leg span of about 2.5 cm (1 inch). On the front half of its body (the cephalothorax), it has a dark violin-shaped design, the “neck” of which is formed by a conspicuous furrow on the midline of its back. The spider’s six eyes are arranged in two rows.

3. The brown recluse has extended its range into parts of the northern United States. Its natural habitat is in caves, rodent burrows, and other protected environments. In buildings it is typically found in undisturbed locations such as attics, storage areas, and wall or ceiling voids. The venom of the brown recluse destroys the walls of blood vessels near the site of the bite, sometimes causing a large skin ulcer. The wound, which may require several months to heal, is occasionally fatal.

4. Insects, Centipedes, Spiders, and Scorpions: brown recluse spider.

• Latin: Loxosceles reclusa.
• a small, pale-brown, venomous North American spider, Loxosceles reclusa, distinguished by a violin-shaped marking near the head, found outdoors in rock niches or indoors in drawers or dark corners; its bite may cause deep skin ulcers that are occasionally fatal.

5. Cultural Interrelation: “Last week I was in St. Louis and went to a party with friends. When some people there learned that I lived in the country, they asked me about brown recluse spiders”. […] Quote from A Country Year: Living the Questions (1986) by Sue Hubbell (1935-2018).

S: 1. Etymonline – https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=brown+recluse+spider (last access: 20 August 2024). 2 & 3. EncBrit – https://www.britannica.com/animal/brown-recluse (last access: 20 August 2024). 4. TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=brown+recluse+spider&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 20 August 2024). 5. GR – https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/150110.Sue_Hubbell, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/813241.A_Country_Year (last access: 20 August 2024).

SYN: fiddleback spider, violin spider.

S: TERMIUM PLUS – https://www.btb.termiumplus.gc.ca/tpv2alpha/alpha-eng.html?lang=eng&i=1&srchtxt=brown+recluse+spider&codom2nd_wet=1#resultrecs (last access: 20 August 2024)

CR: arachnophobia, daddy longlegs, spider.