There is of course the Spanish word incomunicado usually spelled incommunicado in English. According to OED it entered the English language in 1844.  More interesting is the Psammetichus experiment related by Herodotus book 2 chapter 2. On that see Antoni Soulek (1989) The Psammetichus experiment. Journal of the History of Ideas vol 50 no 4. 

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On 29 Σεπ 2013, at 6:38 μ.μ., Daniel Klein <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> You know Smith's TMS thought experiment "Were it possible that a human creature could grow up to manhood in some solitary place, without any communication with his own species, he could  ..." (110, see also 192).
> 
> In something I read I saw the author use an expression to criticize the thought experiment, a Latin expression, as I recall, that I believe meant that the posited thing is impossible.
> 
> I've been scouring electronic texts, searching on "grow up to manhood", etc., and I've read up on latin terms for philosophy, etc., but I can't come up with it.
> 
> Does anyone know the Latin term I mean, or the source that applies it to Smith's thought experiment?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> /Dan Klein