Spital

See also: spital, špital, and špitál

English

Proper noun

Spital

1. A suburb of Windsor, Windsor and Maidenhead borough, Berkshire, England (OS grid ref SU9675).
2. An eastern suburb of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England (OS grid ref SK3970).
3. A suburb in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England (OS grid ref SJ3483).

See also

• Spittal

German

Alternative forms

• Hospital (literary; dated)

Etymology

From Middle High German spitāl, hospitāl, from Old High German *hospitāl (attested in hospitālhūs (“hospital”)), from Latin hospitale.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʃpiˈtaːl/, [ʃpiˈtaːl], [ʃpɪ-]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aːl

Noun

Spital n (strong, genitive Spitals, plural Spitäler)

1. (dated outside Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, South Tyrol, Southern Germany) hospital

   Synonym: (overall more common) Krankenhaus

2. (dated) nursing home
3. (dated) poorhouse

Usage notes

• The word remains predominant (vis-à-vis Krankenhaus) in Luxembourg, Austria, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, and South Tyrol. Both words are common in many parts of southern Germany. In northern and central Germany, Spital is dated and now used almost exclusively by some of the older generation.

Declension

Declension of Spital [neuter, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	das	Spital	die	Spitäler
genitive	eines	des	Spitals	der	Spitäler
dative	einem	dem	Spital	den	Spitälern
accusative	ein	das	Spital	die	Spitäler

Descendants

• → Polish: szpital, śpital (Middle Polish)
  • → Belarusian: шпіта́ль (špitálʹ)
  • → Kashubian: szpëtôl (through Middle Polish)
  • → Ukrainian: шпиталь (špytalʹ)
• → Romanian: spital, șpital — regional, Transylvania; ospital
• → Yiddish: שפּיטאָל (shpitol)

Further reading

• “Spital” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “Spital” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Spital” in Duden online
• Spital on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de