Middle English Dictionary Entry
hospitāl n.
Entry Info
| Forms | hospitāl n. Also -taile, -tel, ospital. |
| Etymology | OF ospital & ML hospitālum, hospitāle. |
Definitions (Senses and Subsenses)
1.
(a) An establishment for the reception, protection, and care of pilgrims and travelers; hospice; ?also, a monastic guesthouse; (b) a charitable institution providing residence and care for the poor; almshouse, beadhouse; ~ of povre men, povre ~; (c) ?a chantry; (d) a place of protection or succor, a refuge, asylum; also fig.; (e) holden ~, to be hospitable; holden ~ to, give hospitality to (a stranger), receive and entertain as a guest.
Associated quotations
a
- c1330(?a1300) Rich.(Auch)115/16 : Þe king of fraunce..Lay in þe cite of messene, & þe king richard wiþ outen þe wal Vnder þe hous of þe ospital.
- c1400 *Trev.Higd.(Tbr D.7)145a : Hy..made an hospital [L hospitale; Higd.(2): hospitalle] by a ryuer, whar men passede ofte & were in gret peril; Þar hy halp men þat passede & socourde poure men.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)13a/b : Cenodochium: an hospitel.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)32b/b : Hospicium: an ospitale or an Inne.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)70b/a-b : Xenotrophyum: an ospitale..Xenodochium: locus quo peregrini suscipiuntur & pauperes couersantur, vt ospitale.
- (a1438) MKempe A (Add 61823)80/19 : Sche was put owte of þe Hospital, þat sche myth no lengar be schrevyn ne howselyd þer-in.
- 1447 Bokenham Sts.(Arun 327)9997 : An hospytale..she dede make, In wych þo þat up shuld not clymbyn moun Shuld receyuyd ben & hyr almes take.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)145/15 : Philip lay in the cyte, and Richard in a hospital withoute.
- a1500(c1465) SEChron.(Lamb 306)65 : This yere was the Parlement at Bury..and was loged in the Ospitale.
- c1500 Stations Jerus.(Ashm 61)409 : In-to þe hospytall we wente, And ete & dranke sych as god vs sente.
b
- c1300 SLeg.Becket (Hrl 2277)p.5 : Thulke hous..As Seint Thomas was inne ibore..Ther is nouth an hospital arerd of Seint Thomas.
- a1400 Usages Win.(Win-HRO W/A3/1)p.52 : Non ne shal makye fraunk..out-nome on to þe meyres hows and an oþer to þe hospytal.
- (1417) J.Dernell in Nrf.Archaeol.15126 : Item, a lode Marle to yo Hospitale.
- (1418) EEWills31/31,32/4 : I bequethe to þe pore hospitales, that is to say, Seint Marie spitell with-oute Bisshopesgate, Bedlem, Seint Thomas in Southwerk, [etc.]..to eueryche hospitall, to parte a-monge pore folk there, xx s. to pray for my soule.
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)46b/a : Orphanatrophum: an hospitale.
- c1425 Found.St.Barth.4/16 : He wolde make and [read: an] hospitale yn recreacioun of poure mene.
- c1430(a1410) Love Mirror (Brsn e.9)77 : He went to somme hospitale of pore men.
- (1439) RParl.5.10b : To holde in thair use for evermore the seid Hospitall, with alle the Londes, Tenementz, [etc.]..belongyng to the same Hospitall.
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)334/1 : He..byggid ane hospitall, And þerin he abade..& serryffed seke folk.
- c1450 Alph.Tales (Add 25719)399/28 : He come into ane almos howse..And when he had bene in þis hospitall xviij yere in pouertie & in Goddis serves.
- a1475 Godstow Reg.(Rwl B.408)94/12 : The said prest mynystred the sacramentis of confession and penaunce to sike folke of the said hospitall labouryng in theire last.
- c1500(a1475) Fortescue Gov.E.(Cld A.8)155 : [Ld: The ffundacion] of abbeys, of hospitals..is nothyng in comparisoun herof.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)65a : A Hospitall..geronticonium.
- a1500 Mayer Nominale (Mayer)719/16 : Hoc hospitale: a nospytalle.
c
- a1500(?c1450) Merlin (Cmb Ff.3.11)369 : Gladly wolde he ther make an hospitall where-ynne a man myght euer after serue oure lorde god..and that oure lordes body myght be sacred therynne, and his seruyse seide and don, for the victorye that god hadde hym yoven.
d
- c1450(?a1422) Lydg.LOL (Dur-U Cosin V.2.16)2.516 : The high kyng of glorye With Inne hir wome, hathe made..His dwellyng place, and his hospitall.
- ?c1475 *Cath.Angl.(Add 15562)65a : A Hospitall..Azilum, diuersorium.
e
- a1450 Where-of is mad (Dgb 102)31 : Holde hospytal to goddis gest, And fede þe pore in charyte.
- c1425(?c1400) Wycl.Apol.(Dub 245)33 : Þe bischop be-howuiþ..to holde hospital.
2.
(a) In the names of particular hospitals; also in phrases: keper (maister, hed, governour) of a ~, the warden or chief official of a hospital; brother of a ~, a person occupied in the care of those residing in hospitals; (b) ~ hous, hospital building.
Associated quotations
a
- a1425 *Medulla (Stnh A.1.10)70b/a : Xenotrophita: a kepar of an ospitale.
- (1433) Doc.Merchant York in Sur.Soc.12932 : What bed of the poure foulk that voides next..wythin the hospitall of the Trinite, in Fossegate, in York.
- (a1438) MKempe A (Add 61823)80/9 : Þan was þis creatur receyued in-to þe Hospital of Seynt Thomas of Cawntyrbery in Rome.
- (a1438) MKempe A (Add 61823)94/31 : Þe Maystyr & Broþyr of þe Hospital of Seynt Thomas..herd tellyn what lofe & what fauowr sche had in þe cyte.
- (1439) RParl.5.10b : The Hospitall of Saint Nicholas in Pountfreit..wherof William Bothe Clerk thenne was Maister and Keper.
- (1444) RParl.5.74b : Kyng Henry the Third..graunted to..Maistur and Brethern of the Hospitall of Saint Thomas the Martir of Acres, yn the Citee of London..the place where Saint Thomas was born.
- a1450 Rich.(Cai 175/96:Weber)2875 : He rod..Toward Acres..Tyl he com to the hospytayle [Dc: ospytall] Off Seynt Thomas.
- c1450 Capgr.Rome (Bod 423)17 : An othir betwix þe hospitall of þe holy goost and seynt petir cherch.
- (1473) RParl.6.74b : Prejudiciall to..Hede or Governour of any..Hospitall..Maister and Brethern of any Hospitall..Keper and Brethern of Hospitalles..Maister or Keper and Brethern of any Hospitall.
- a1475 Godstow Reg.(Rwl B.408)93/7 : Maister and brethern of the hospitall of seynt Iohn Baptist of Wycombe.
- a1500 Stations Rome(1) (Lamb 306)818 : At seynt Speryte hospytalle, there men mowe haue, gret and smalle, vij yere of pardoune.
b
- c1425 Found.St.Barth.10/20 : An hospitall howse a litill lenger of from the chirche..he began to edifie.
3.
(a) The Order of Knights Hospitallers; ~ of seint johns, ~ of seint john jerusalem; frere (knight) of the ~, a Knight Hospitaller; maister of the ~, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitallers; (b) the Hospital of St. John in Jerusalem, the mother house of the Knights Hospitallers; ~ of seint john.
Associated quotations
a
- ?c1350 Why werre (Peterh 104)p.16 : An other religion ther is Of the Hospital; They ben lords and sires In contrey over al.
- ?a1400(a1338) Mannyng Chron.Pt.2 (Petyt 511)p.190 : Men him fand & þe frere Baudwyn, A frere of þe hospitalle.
- c1400 Brut-1333 (Rwl B.171)194 : A worþi Knyght slayn, þat was a knyght of the Hospitall [vr. an hospitaler] þat me called Frere Brian Iay.
- (1437) Proc.Privy C.5.72 : At þe priourie of þospital of Seint John's beside London.
- (1439) RParl.5.23a : The Predecessours of the Priour of the Hospitall of Seint John Jerusalem in Englond were seised of II Forges.
- c1440 Degrev.(Thrn)1833 : The Mayster of þe Hospitalle Come with a cardenalle.
- (a1464) Capgr.Chron.(Cmb Gg.4.12)p.223 : On the Christen side were slayn..the Maistir of the Hospital in the ylde of Rodis.
b
- ?a1400(a1338) Mannyng Chron.Pt.2 (Petyt 511)p.135 : To temples in Acres he [Henry II] quath fiue þousand marke, & fiue thousand to þe hospitale, for þei were in karke.
- ?a1425(c1400) Mandev.(1) (Tit C.16)53/11-16 : Toward the south a cc paas is the gret hospitall [Eg: hospitale; F hospital] of seynt Iohn, of the whiche the Hospitaleres hadd here foundacioun. And withinne the palays of the sekemen of þat hospitall ben xjxx & iiij pileres of ston.
4.
In place names and local surnames.
Associated quotations
- (1242-3) Bk.of Fees758 : Quod del Ospital tenet in Le Ospital..terciam partem j feodi.
- (1284) Assize R.Lan.in LCRS 49179 : Ralph del Hospital.
- 1304 Close R.Edw.I204 : Bertolt del Hospital.
- (1327) in Ewen Surnames Brit.167 : Isabell de Hospital.
- (1397) Inquis.Miscel.(PRO)6.84 : [There has been in the county from of old a building called] le hospital [of Illeford].
- (1403) Inquis.Hen.IV in BGAS 1871 : Fratres Hospitalis sancti Johannis in Jerusalem in Anglia..tenuerunt in predicta villa de Cirencestre..quoddam feodum, vulgariter vocatum the Prior of the Hospital.