ospedale Italian · revision 37889

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1342|origins=la hospes}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /os.peˈda.le/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ospedale''' ''m'' (plural ospedali)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It continues [[inh|la-vul|*hospitāle|t=lodging for strangers, inn]], the neuter of [[la|hospitālis|t=of a guest; hospitable]] used as a noun, from [[m|la|hospes|t=guest; host; stranger]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Wiktionary) GRADIT starts from the medieval form [[la-med|hospitāle]] instead.^(GRADIT 2003) Devoto and Sabatini–Coletti explain the /d/ in place of Latin /t/ as a northern softening: the word reached the standard language through the dialects of the north.^(Devoto 1968)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+

+ The same Vulgar Latin noun gave [[fro|ostel]] (modern [[fr|hôtel]]), [[oc|ostal|t=house]] and [[ca|hostal|t=inn]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) According to Nocentini, it took the sense “hospital” in medieval Italy, where the hospice outside the town fed the travellers who stopped there and also treated their illnesses, and the institution and its name then spread to [[fr|hôpital]], [[es|hospital]] and [[de|Spital]].^(Nocentini 2010) The learned [[ospitale]] and the French loan [[hotel]] are its doublets.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The Latin [[m|la|hospes]] is an old compound of [[m|la|hostis]] and the root of [[m|la|potis|t=able]], and matches [[cu|господь|tr=gospodĭ|t=lord]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Nocentini and GRADIT date the word to before 1342, when it meant a hospice for pilgrims, the old and the poor, while the Tuscan form ''spedale'' goes back to the 13th century.^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003) DELI's first record of the modern sense, buildings where the sick are taken in and cared for, is in Franco Sacchetti (before 1400).^(DELI 1999) Tommaseo quotes him on a man who fell into such poverty that “in uno vile ospedale… finì la vita” (he ended his life in a wretched hospital).^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861|3, 680)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The older sense of a shelter for pilgrims, the poor and the old, and of an orphanage, is now archaic.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010) Matteo Bandello describes the houses for lepers that stood in almost every French village as ''ospidali'' where the sick were made to live.^(GDLI|12, 202) Today the word names an institution, usually public, where the sick and injured are admitted and treated, and by extension the time spent there.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

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+ The Tuscans long kept ''spedale'': in a letter of 1899 Ferdinando Martini asked a Tuscan lady why she wrote ''ospedale'', but in the end Tuscany adopted the common form.^(DELI 1999) The derivatives ''ospedalizzare'' (1943) and ''ospedalizzazione'' follow French ''hospitaliser'' and ''hospitalisation'';^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Paolo Monelli called the verb one of the ugly words invented by military bureaucracy.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010) Set phrases include ''ospedale da campo'', a mobile field hospital, ''mandare qualcuno all'ospedale'', to beat someone so badly that they need treatment, and ''essere un ospedale ambulante'', said of a person with many ailments.^(Zingarelli 2010)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) The word is also used for repair shops, as in ''ospedale delle bambole'' “dolls' hospital”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 13th century – The Tuscan form ''spedale'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1342 – ''Ospedale'' is recorded in the sense “hospice”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * Before 1400 – Franco Sacchetti uses it for a place where the sick are cared for.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1884 – The adjective ''ospedaliero'' is recorded.^(Nocentini 2010)

+ * 1899 – Ferdinando Martini questions a Tuscan writer's use of ''ospedale'' for ''spedale''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1911 – ''Ospedalizzazione'' appears in the title of a book on tuberculosis patients.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1943 – Paolo Monelli records ''ospedalizzare''.^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|hospital]], an institution with staff and equipment for admitting and treating the sick and injured: ''L'hanno portato in ospedale con un braccio rotto.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The time spent in hospital: ''Dopo l'operazione ha fatto due settimane di ospedale.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A [[m|en|hospice]] for pilgrims, the poor or the old; an [[m|en|orphanage]].^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+ # ''(by extension)'' A workshop that repairs particular objects: ''ospedale delle bambole''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # In apposition and invariable, equipped as a hospital: ''nave ospedale'', ''treno ospedale''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Zingarelli 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ospedaliero]]

+ * [[ospedalizzare]]

+ * [[ospedalizzazione]]

+ * [[ospedalità]]

+ * [[ospedaletto]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ospitale]]

+ * [[ospite]]

+ * [[ostello]]

+ * [[hotel]]

+ * [[spedale]]

+ * [[la|hospes]]

+ * [[fr|hôpital]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Older and regional forms are ''spedale'', still popular in Tuscany, and the archaic ''ospitale''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)^(Gabrielli 2020) The diminutive ''ospedaletto'' is used mostly in ''ospedaletto da campo''.^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}