Origins
The verb 'enclose' entered English around 1325 from Old French 'enclos' (past participle of 'enclore,' to enclose, to surround), from Vulgar Latin '*inclaudere,' itself a blend or variant of Latin 'inclūdere' (to shut in, to include) and 'claudere' (to close). The Proto-Indo-European root is *klāu- (hook, peg). The word is thus a doublet of 'include' — both ultimately derive from Latin 'in-' (in) and 'claudere' (to close), but 'include' was borrowed directly from Latin while 'enclose' arrived through French, where the word underwent more extensive phonological transformation.
The doublet relationship between 'enclose' and 'include' is instructive. Both words mean, at their etymological core, 'to shut in.' But their semantic paths diverged: 'include' became abstract (to contain as part of a set, to regard as belonging to a group), while 'enclose' remained predominantly physical (to surround with a barrier, to put inside a container). This physical-abstract split is a common pattern in English doublets, where the French-transmitted form tends to retain the concrete sense and the Latin-transmitted form acquires the abstract one.
The word 'enclose' carries enormous historical weight in English, primarily through the 'enclosure movement' — the centuries-long process by which open fields, common pastures, and waste grounds in England were fenced off (enclosed) for private use. The movement occurred in waves: the Tudor enclosures of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, driven by the wool trade, and the Parliamentary enclosures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, driven by agricultural improvement. Between 1750 and 1850, some 4,000 Enclosure Acts were passed by Parliament, transforming roughly six million acres of open land into enclosed, privately held fields.
Latin Roots
The social consequences of enclosure were profound and bitterly debated. Enclosure improved agricultural productivity — enclosed fields could be more efficiently managed, rotated, and fertilized than open strip-farming. But it also displaced large numbers of small farmers and commoners who had depended on common land for grazing, fuel, and foraging. The phrase 'enclosure of the commons' became a symbol of dispossession, and the Romantic poets — particularly John Clare, himself the son of a labourer who witnessed enclosure firsthand — mourned the loss of the old landscape.
The everyday sense of 'enclose' — to place something inside an envelope or container along with something else ('please find enclosed') — preserves the original physical meaning in the most literal way. Business and personal letters routinely use 'enclosed' to indicate that additional documents are contained within the same envelope. The abbreviation 'enc.' or 'encl.' at the bottom of a letter stands for 'enclosure(s).'
The noun 'enclosure' (from Old French 'enclosure') denotes both the act of enclosing and the space enclosed. A paddock, a garden wall, a fenced compound, and a prison are all enclosures — spaces defined by their surrounding barriers. In horse racing, 'the enclosure' is the area near the winning post where horses are paraded and spectators gather, defined by its railing.