LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.10 (07) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L * 10.JUN.2004 (07) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) N=Northumbrian
S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Andy (Scots-Online) <andy at scots-online.org>
Subject: LL-L "False friends" 2004.06.10 (02) [E]

Sandy wrote:

> "seek": used like the Dutch "ziek" rather than the English "sick".

As in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children.
It is not full of children who are disgusting, gruesome, macabre or in any
way mentally deranged.
They are simply ill ;-)

Andy Eagle

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: False friends

Andy (above):

> It is not full of children who are disgusting, gruesome, macabre or in any
> way mentally deranged.
> They are simply ill ;-)

But doesn't English use "sick" in this sense as well?  Surely, "sick" in the
sense of "deranged," "twisted" etc. is a relatively recent semantic
derivation.  I suppose in American English  "mad" has undergone a similar
specialized shift fairly recently to mean "angry," which is why many
Americans made jokes about the term "mad cow disease," imagining herds of
infuriated cattle.

> As in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital for Sick Children.

And the one in Toronto, Canada (whose website http://www.sickkids.on.ca/,
incidentally, seems to treat the location as a secret. You have to dig to
find it ... Good website planning! "Hospital for Sick Children"?! Duh!
*Everyone* in the world knows where *that* is!).

Anyway, this name has always puzzled me.  "Hospital for *Sick* Children?"
Is there one for healthy children as well?  How about "Children's Hospital"
or "Pediatric Hospital" like elsewhere?  Or is there something I'm missing?
Might "hospital" once have had other meanings as well, such as that of
"hostel"?  Perhaps in Scots, transferred to Scottish English?

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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