hospitale

Forms

hospitāle n (genitive hospitālis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin hospitālis (“of a guest or host”), the neuter of the adjective used as a noun.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius uses the plural hospitalia for the guest rooms of a house, where visiting guests are received, and for the side doors of the stage.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it came to mean a lodging or inn: an inscription of AD 232 mentions hospitalia for celebrating rites, and Gregory of Tours uses it of the lodging a man had at a basilica.^[5] It also meant a shelter for strangers and the poor, the Latin for Greek xenodochium.^[5][6] In Medieval Latin it was a hospice or a monastery's hospital, a house of the Knights Hospitallers, a lodging, the lord's right to lodging, and a cottar's holding.^[6][7] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for a hospital or guesthouse.^[8] Neo-Latin authors such as Poggio use it of a hospital for the poor.^[9]

Through Old French hospital it gave English hospital, and the same word, contracted, is English hostel and hotel.^[2] Italian ospedale comes from it too.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses the plural for guest rooms.^[4][10]
• 232 AD – An inscription mentions hospitalia for celebrating rites.^[5]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it of a lodging.^[5][10]
• 1223 – A Polish charter mentions a hospital for poor and sick travellers.^[11]
• mid-13th century – English hospital is borrowed from Old French, ultimately from this word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A guest room;^[4][5][1] (plural) guest accommodation, lodgings.^[4][5][1]
2. (Late Latin) A lodging, inn.^[5][6]
3. (Late Latin) A shelter for the poor and for travellers; a hospice.^[5][6][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A monastery's hospital; a house of the Knights Hospitallers.^[6][7]
5. (Medieval Latin) The right of lodging owed to a lord; a cottar's holding.^[6]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A hospital, guesthouse.^[8]

Related words

• hospitālis
• hospes
• English hospital
• English hostel
• English hotel

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl