PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD
ALL SOURCES ↗BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-hospital
SOURCE
RECORD.
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13 PUBLIC LINKS INTO THE GRAPH.
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historical dictionarymw-hospital
Hospital — Word History
- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
- DOI
- Not recorded
- SOURCE TYPE
- historical dictionary
- EXTERNAL RECORD
- OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
011
CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS
RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
RANK 91GRADE Asupports
A hospital was hospitality before medicine.
The English record begins with lodging and charitable shelter. The medical institution developed inside an older guest-care family rather than naming medicine from the start.
*ghos-ti-
*ghos-ti- → *ghos-pot- → hospes (hospit-) → hospitālis → hospitāle → hospital → hospital / ospitale → hospital
Middle English senses and First Known UseDocuments lodging and charitable senses before medical specialization.
hospital dossier ↗truth record ↗86UNVEILING
021
SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT
DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
resolvedsupportsestablished
Did hospital originally mean a medical institution?
No. The earliest English senses concern lodging for travelers and charitable residence; medical care becomes established later.
Middle English senses and First Known UseDocuments lodging and charitable senses before medical specialization.
036
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS
EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
EDGE 135supportsestablished
hospital → hospital / ospitale
Present-Day English → Middle English · continuation
- SOUND
- Middle English hospital / ospitale continued into modern hospital with spelling and stress stabilization.
- MEANING
- Guest accommodation and charitable residence developed into the institution for medical care familiar today.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster editors
Middle English senses and First Known UseEDGE 136supportsestablished
hospital / ospitale → hospital
Middle English → Anglo-French · borrowing
- SOUND
- Middle English borrowed Anglo-French hospital, with an ospitale variant reflecting the same learned lodging term.
- MEANING
- Residence for travelers and charitable care remained central.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster editors
Anglo-French borrowingEDGE 137supportsestablished
hospital → hospitāle
Anglo-French → Medieval Latin · borrowing
- SOUND
- Anglo-French hospital continues Medieval Latin hospitāle with Romance adaptation.
- MEANING
- Guest accommodation becomes a named charitable lodging institution.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster · Merriam-Webster historical essay
Medieval Latin hospitāleEDGE 138supportsestablished
hospitāle → hospitālis
Medieval Latin → Latin · substantivization
- SOUND
- Medieval Latin hospitāle is the neuter substantivization of Latin hospitālis, “of a guest; hospitable.”
- MEANING
- An adjective about guests came to name guest accommodations and then institutions of lodging and care.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster editors
hospitāle from hospitālisEDGE 139supportsestablished
hospitālis → hospes (hospit-)
Latin → Latin · derivation
- SOUND
- Latin hospitālis is formed from the stem hospit- of hospes with the adjective suffix -ālis.
- MEANING
- The host/guest relationship becomes the quality of being for guests or hospitable.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster editors
hospitālis from hospesEDGE 145supportsestablished
hostel / ostel → hospitāle
Old French → Medieval Latin · borrowing
- SOUND
- Old French hostel / ostel continues the Medieval Latin guest-accommodation term hospitāle through Romance sound and spelling change.
- MEANING
- A guest room or lodging becomes an inn-like place for travelers.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster historical essay
hospitāle041
LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS
WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE
hospitalSOURCE-REPORTED
hospital
English lexicographic first-use record for hospital
OPEN WITNESS 38 ↗050
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE
COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
064
GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS
JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
stage 1supports
Latin hospitāle lodging tradition
Traces hospital through Medieval Latin hospitāle, hospitālis, and hospes.
Word History: Etymology, Medieval Latin hospitāle · broadstage 2supports
Anglo-French and Middle English transmission
Documents Anglo-French hospital or ospitale on the route into Middle English.
Word History: Etymology, Anglo-French and Middle English forms · broadstage 3supports
English lodging, charity, and care institutions
Reports the Middle English lodging and charitable-institution senses and a fourteenth-century first-known-use horizon.
Word History: Etymology and First Known Use · broadstage 4supports
English-language hospital senses
Documents the modern medical and institutional senses of hospital.
Current definitions and Word History · broad070
NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
084
WORD-FAMILY REUSE
DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE
10 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.