Etymologically
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hospitale

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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]

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