Etymologically
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hospitalis

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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

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