1. Definition
In German the New Testament name Lazarus was associated allegorically with the sick since the Middle Ages – initially lepers, later impoverished victims of any disease. In the Romance languages, a derived adjective (French ladre, 12th century) is attested in the semantic field “wretched, infirm, leprous.” The German noun Lazarett came into common use in the 16th century as a loanword from Italian lazzaretto (Spanish laz…