hôtel-Dieu

English

Alternative forms

• hotel-Dieu

Etymology

Borrowed from French hôtel-Dieu.

Noun

hôtel-Dieu (plural hôtels-Dieu or hôtel-Dieus)

1. (historical) The chief hospital in a French city.
   • 2017, Alison Forrestal, Vincent de Paul, the Lazarist Mission, and French Catholic Reform:

     When she arrived in each town, she checked whether a Hôtel-Dieu existed, and visited the five that she found.

References

• A Glossary of Ecclesiastical Terms‎^[1], 1972, page 240

French

Etymology

From Old French ostel Deu (literally “God’s hostel”), stressing the charitable nature (although hospitals where then invariably religious). The construction, instead of expected hôtel de Dieu, is a relict of an Old French oblique case form in genitive function; another such example is Fête-Dieu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /o.tɛl.djø/

Noun

hôtel-Dieu m (plural hôtels-Dieu)

1. a name borne by certain hospitals of long tradition, most notably the Hôtel-Dieu de Paris
2. (history) any caritative hospice or hospital

References

• “hôtel”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.