Krankenhaus

Forms

Krankenhaus n (genitive Krankenhauses, plural Krankenhäuser, diminutive Krankenhäuschen n)^[1]

Etymology

It is from German Kranke + Haus, a compound of the noun “sick person”, the noun use of krank, with the linking element “-en-”.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paul dates it to Rädlein's dictionary of 1711, with a forerunner in the Teuthonista of 1477, which has krankstuben oder hus “sickroom or house”.^[3][4] It meant a military hospital or infirmary, but also a private house in which someone lay ill.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

Adelung around 1800 gives first the general sense “house in which someone is ill” and then the narrower and more usual one, a public building where poor patients are cared for and treated, matching Lazarett and Upper German Siechhaus.^[5] Goethe wrote of a castle turned into a Krankenhaus in time of war.^[4] In Switzerland and Austria Spital is used instead, and the older Krankenspital is found in Stieler and Adelung.^[3] Hungarian kórház (1806) is listed among the words modelled on German.^[6]

Timeline

• 1477 – The Teuthonista has krankstuben oder hus.^[3]
• 1711 – Krankenhaus in Rädlein's dictionary.^[3]
• Around 1800 – Adelung defines it as a public building for the care of poor patients.^[5]
• 1806 – Hungarian kórház is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hospital, a building where sick people are examined and treated, often for some time: Er musste drei Tage im Krankenhaus bleiben.^[7][1]

Related words

• krank
• Haus
• Spital
• Lazarett

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b c Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 11, 2037
5. ^ a b c Adelung, Johann Christoph (1793–1801), Grammatisch-kritisches Wörterbuch der Hochdeutschen Mundart, 2nd ed., 4 vols., Leipzig: Breitkopf, p. 2, 1752
6. ^ a b Lehnwortportal Deutsch (2012–), Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache, Mannheim, lwp.ids-mannheim.de
7. ^ Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag