hospitalis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [hɔs.pɪˈtaː.lɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [os.piˈtaː.lis]^[1]

Forms

hospitālis (neuter hospitāle, superlative hospitālissimus, adverb hospitāliter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from hospes “host, guest” with the suffix -ālis.^[2][1][3] Manuscripts and inscriptions sometimes spell it ⟨osp-⟩.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of what is connected with hospitality.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant of a guest, or of one bound by ties of hospitality, as in Livy, and connected with hospitality, as Cicero's sēdēs hospitālis, and of gods protecting the ties of hospitality.^[2][5] It meant hospitable, as Cicero's hospitālis est in aliquem, of conduct and figuratively of a coast, as in Pliny.^[2][6] In Varro it meant for the use of guests, and the neuter plural guest rooms.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant of a guest, and hospitālis domus a guesthouse.^[7] In Medieval Latin a hospitālis was the warden of a hospital.^[8] Its neuter hospitāle “guest house” gave Old French hospital and English hospital in the mid-13th century, first a shelter for the needy.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of hospitality.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of hospitable persons.^[2][6][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of guests.^[2][4]
• mid-13th century – English hospital is recorded.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a guest; of a guest-friend.^[2]
2. Of hospitality; of gods, protecting guests.^[2]
3. Hospitable.^[2]
4. For guests, hospitālia, guest rooms.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) As a noun, the warden of a hospital.^[8]

Word family

• hospitālitās
• inhospitālis
• hospitāle
• hospitālia
• hospitāliter

Related words

• hospes
• hospita
• hospitāculum
• hospitātor
• hospiticīda
• hospitiolum
• hospitium
• hospitīvus
• hospitor
• English hospital
• English hospitable

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com