lazaretto

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English

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WOTD – 28 July 2022

Etymology

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The Lazzaretto Vecchio (Old Lazzaretto) is an island in the Venetian Lagoon, Venice, Italy, used between 1403 and 1630 to house a hospital for people infected with plague and as a leper colony.

Borrowed from Italian lazzareto (archaic), lazzaretto, lazzeretto, from lazzaro (“leper”) + -etto (diminutive or meliorative suffix).[1] Lazzaro is derived from Medieval Latin lazarus (“leper”), from Lazarus, from Ancient Greek Λᾱ́ζᾱρος (Lā́zāros), from Hebrew אֶלְעָזָר ('el'azár, literally “God has helped”), from אֵל ('él, “God; a deity, god”) + עָזַר ('azár, “to assist, help”). Lazarus is a Biblical character mentioned in the parable of Jesus known as “The rich man and Lazarus” who is described as being a beggar covered in sores: see Luke 16:20–21. Doublet of lazar and lazaret.

The plural form lazaretti is borrowed from Italian lazzaretti, lazzeretti.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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lazaretto (plural lazarettos or lazarettoes or lazaretti)

  1. (historical)
    1. A place reserved for people with infectious diseases (especially leprosy or plague) to live on a long-term basis. [from mid 16th c.]
      Synonyms: lazaret, lazar house, pesthouse
      Hyponyms: leper colony, leprosarium, leprosery
      • 1561, Wylliam Thomas [i.e., William Thomas], “[The Venetian Astate.] Of Common Prouision and Charitable Deedes.”, in The Historye of Italye. […], London: […] Thomas Parishe, →OCLC, folio 83, recto:
        For the plague, there is an houſe of many lodgeingꝭ [lodgeinges], two miles from Venice, called the Lazaretta, vnto the which all they of that houſe, wherin one hath been infected of the plague, are incontinẽtly ſent, and a lodgeyng ſufficiente appoincted for theim till the infection ceaſſe, that they may retourne.
      • 1654, James Howell, “To the Reader”, in Scipio Mazzella, James Howell, translated by Samson Lennard, Parthenopoeia, or The History of the Most Noble and Renowned Kingdom of Naples, […], London: […] Humphrey Moseley, […], →OCLC:
        They are in their Method of Devotion, pious and charitable, their ſtately Temples, and Monaſteries demonſtrat the one, and their Lazarettos, or Houſes for the Poor do verify the other, ſpecially that of Monte de pietà, an Hoſpital of 60000.
      • 1697, Richard Lassels, “Italy Described, in a Voyage thither”, in An Italian Voyage, or, A Compleat Journey through Italy. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Wellington, […], and B[arnaby] Barnard Lintott, […], →OCLC, part I, page 83:
        The Lazaretto is a vaſt Building, carrying in compaſs a thouſand and eight hundred yards. It ſtands near the Tovvn VValls, yet out of the Tovvn, and is to receive into it thoſe that are ſick of the Plague.
      • 1798, John Splinter Stavorinus, chapter VI, in Samuel Hull Wilcocke, transl., Voyages to the East-Indies; […], volume I, London: […] G. G. and J. Robinson, […], →OCLC, page 383:
        It is planted with ſhady trees; and in the center is a building, vvhich ſerves for a hoſpital, or lazaretto, for perſons afflicted vvith the leproſy, or other incurable diſeaſes, vvho are ſent thither from Batavia.
      • 1856, Thomas De Quincey, “Confessions of an English Opium-Eater”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. […] (Selections Grave and Gay; De Quincey’s Works; V), revised edition, London: James Hogg & Sons, →OCLC, page 31:
        [T]he dreary expanse of whitewashed walls, that at so small a cost might have been embellished by plaster-of-Paris friezes and large medallions, illustrating to the eye of the youthful student the most memorable glorifications of literature—these were bare as the walls of a poor-house or a lazaretto; […]
      • 1962, Derek Walcott, “Tales of the Islands: Chapter III: La belle qui fut …”, in Wayne Brown, compiler, Selected Poetry (Caribbean Writers Series), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Heinemann Educational Publishers, published 1993, →ISBN, page 6:
        Miss Rossignol lived in the lazaretto / For Roman Catholic crones; she had white skin, / And underneath it, fine, old-fashioned bones; […]
      • 1974, Italo Calvino, chapter 9, in William Weaver, transl., Invisible Cities (A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book), New York, N.Y., London: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, →ISBN, pages 150–151:
        And they led me to visit a suspended street recently opened over a bamboo grove, a shadow-theater under construction in the place of the municipal kennels, now moved to the pavilions of the former lazaretto, abolished when the last plague victims were cured, […]
      • 1981, Carlo M. Cipolla, “Theory, Observation, and Policy”, in Fighting the Plague in Seventeenth-Century Italy, Madison, Wis., London: University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, footnote 12, page 13:
        Reader take pity on me, in the greatest of my sufferings. I can swear to you that all the bodily torments which are of necessity suffered in the lazaretti cannot compare even to the fleas, for they do not leave me even in the coldest depths of winter.
        Translated from a 17th-century Italian text by Antero Maria de San Bonaventura.
      • 1986, Ann G. Carmichael, “Conclusion”, in Plague and the Poor in Renaissance Florence (Cambridge History of Medicine), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 127:
        It is probable that from their inception the lazaretti did not house all plague victims. Wealthier victims were probably "quarantined" in their homes.
      • 2006, Joseph P. Byrne, “At the Pest House”, in Daily Life During the Black Death (Daily Life through History), Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, →ISBN, page 143:
        [T]he idea of an isolated, specialized treatment facility like the leprosarium for plague victims caught on. These buildings would be known as pest houses, lazar houses, or lazaretti (Italian, singular lazaretto; variously spelled in different languages), named, as were many leprosaria, for Lazarus, the poor man with sores in the Gospel parable whom the rich man ignored at the peril of his soul (e.g., Luke 16:19–31).
      • 2010, Samuel K. Cohn, Jr., “Plague Psychology”, in Cultures of Plague: Medical Thinking at the End of the Renaissance, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 275:
        The lazaretti need to be kept clean and tidy and not left with dead bodies locked inside. Rubbish and filth must be regularly and immediately removed and the rooms perfumed daily or ‘even more than once a day’. He [Hieronimo Donzellini] then discussed in detail the types of perfumes and how to dispense them in the lazaretti. Finally, like [Giovanni Filippo] Ingrassia, he discussed the architectural organization and construction of the lazaretti, the need for different rooms to treat different types of patients.
    2. (also figuratively) A building such as a hospital, or occasionally a ship, used to temporarily isolate sick people to prevent the spread of infectious diseases; a quarantine. [from early 17th c.]
      Synonym: lazaret
      • 1605 (first performance), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Volpone, or The Foxe. A Comœdie. […]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, Act IIII, scene i, page 496:
        [H]ovv t'enquire, and be reſolu'd, / By preſent demonſtration, vvhether a ſhip, / Nevvly arriued from Soria, or from / Any ſuſpected part of all the leuant, / Be guilty of the plague: And, vvhere they vſe, / To lie out fortie, fifty daies, ſometimes, / About the Lazaretto, for their triall; […]
      • 1615, George Sandys, “The First Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, pages 5–6:
        It is here a cuſtome ſtrictly obſerued (as alſo elſevvhere vvithin the Streights belonging to the Chriſtians) not to ſuffer any to trafficke or come aſhore before they haue a Pratticke from the Signoirs of Health: vvhich vvill not be granted vntill forty dayes after their arriuall, […] Notvvithſtanding, they vpon requeſt vvill carry you to the Lazaretto (vvhich is in the nature of a Peſt-houſe) there to abide vntill the date be expired. But if any fall ſicke amongſt them in the meane ſeaſon, their Pratticke is accordingly prolonged. A great inconuenience to the Merchants, but at Venice intollerable: vvhere vvhen they haue Pratticke, they are enforced to vnlade at the Lazaretto.
      • 1721, George Pye, “Sect. V. That Quarantines are Not Sufficient for the Purposes Intended.”, in A Discourse of the Plague; […], London: […] J[ohn] Darby, and sold by J[ames] Roberts […], and A[nne] Dodd […], →OCLC, page 45:
        If Lazarettoes were made here in England, that is, if Places were ſet apart and appointed for the Reception of infected Perſons and Goods, or of Perſons and Goods coming from infected Places; […] ſince Perſons and Goods in a Lazaretto muſt be as liable as otherwiſe to receive Infection; it follows, that whenever they are diſmiſs'd, tho they have got rid of their own, yet they muſt in all probability have received, and bring with them, ſome part of the new come Infection.
      • 1768, [Joseph Cawthorne], The Immediate Necessity of Building a Lazzaretto for a Regular Quarantine, after the Italian Manner, to Avoid the Plague, and to Preserve Private Property from the Plunderers of Wrecks upon the British Coast: […], London: […] J. Murdoch, […], →OCLC, pages 9–10:
        Theſe eſtabliſhments of Lazzarettos, under wiſe regulations, would have more than one good effect; for while they remove the great inquietude, which is occaſioned by our continual apprehenſions of the Plague, and ſave a populous kingdom, as well as other ſtates connected with us, (who are likewiſe endangered by the accidents of navigation and the imprudence of plunderers) they will ſecure the property of the trader from invaſion; […]
      • 1840, “Introduction”, in A Hand-book for Travellers in the Ionian Islands, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, and Constantinople; […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, section k (Quarantine), page x:
        Passengers may perform quarantine on board if they choose, but it is not advisable to do so if they arrive by a merchant ship, as in that case the term is longer than for a person who goes into the lazzaretto; the day he enters the lazzaretto is reckoned as one, and pratique is given at the earliest hour of the day when the period expires. […] The best lazzarettos are those of Malta, Leghorn, Marseilles, Ancona, and Trieste.
      • 1995, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “Book VII”, in Christopher Kelly, transl., edited by Christopher Kelly, Roger D[avis] Masters, and Peter G[ordon] Stillman, The Confessions and Correspondence, including the Letters to Malesherbes (The Collected Writings of Rousseau; 5), Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England for Dartmouth College, published 1998, →ISBN, 2nd part, page 248:
        It was the time of the plague at Messina. The English fleet had anchored there, and searched the felucca I was on. That subjected us to a quarantine of twenty-one days upon arriving at Genoa after a long and troublesome crossing. They gave the passengers the choice of undergoing it on board, or in the lazaretto in which they warned us that we would find only the four walls, because they had not yet had time to furnish it.
      • 2010, Roderick Cavaliero, “The Empire of Osman: The Turkish Myth”, in Ottomania: The Romantics and the Myth of the Islamic Orient (Library of Ottoman Studies; 24), London, New York, N.Y.: I.B. Tauris & Co., →ISBN, page 10:
        By the middle of the eighteenth century when it was becoming easier, and safer, to visit the east, they were anxious to visit the Greek and Roman lands of Europe, Asia Minor and North Africa from which they had been deterred by the lure of Italy, fear of the plague and of having to spend quarantine in a noisome Levantine lazaretto.
  2. (by extension, nautical) A place at the front of the tweendecks of a merchant ship where provisions are stored. [from early 18th c.]
    Synonym: lazaret
    • 1798, George Vancouver, chapter IV, in John Vancouver, editor, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World; […], volume II, London: […] G. G. and J. Robinson, […]; and J. Edwards, […], →OCLC, page 86:
      After a large quantity of proviſions had been hoiſted up to get out the powder, the ſmoke was ſtill found to aſcend from below; this circumſtance, […] convinced them that the fire muſt be in the lazaretto below, where ſome purſers beds were now recollected to have been very improperly ſtowed; […] no doubt was entertained that theſe beds had got wet and had taken fire.

Alternative forms

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Translations

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References

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  1. ^ “lazaretto, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “lazaretto, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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