Hospiteler

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A member of a religious brotherhood that devoted itself to tending the sick and sheltering pilgrims and travelers
2. One who belonged to a charitable religious order whose members nursed the ill and gave lodging to those on journeys
3. A religious knight or monk bound to care for the infirm and offer hospitality to wayfarers, especially in medieval times

Etymology: The Knights Hospitaller began as a hospice. Merchants from Amalfi had set up a pilgrims' hospital in Jerusalem, and the religious order that grew from it took its name from that building. Its members were first monks who nursed the sick and fed travellers, and only later took up arms to protect the roads to the Holy Land. The name goes back to Latin "hospes," a word that meant both host and guest, and could even mean stranger or enemy. From it came "hospitale," a guesthouse, and then Old French "hospitalier," which entered English in the Middle Ages as "hospitaller." The spelling "hospiteler" is a variant, with the "-er" ending that English attached to many such words for people.

Synonyms: hospitaller