λαζαρέτο – lazaretto, a maritime quarantine station. Lazarettos (or lazarets) could also be ships permanently anchored offshore or islets. There is an obvious connection with the parable of Lazarus the beggar, and lazarettos were strongly associated with leprosy or plague. Babiniotis cites Santa Maria di Nazaret, a quarantine facility, as being the root of the word. As stated in LinNG #8, I’ve got Covid and I’m currently confined to a spare room hastily converted into a lazaretto. Babiniotis’ definition is the 7-syllable λοιμοκαθαρτήριο – literally “plague cleaner”. Another word that will never catch on.
Spelling note: λοιμός and λιμός are not the same. The former = plague (πανούκλα) while the latter = famine. If someone asks you if you’re hungry, you can answer λιμοκτονώ = I’m starving.
Here’s a lazaretto in Malta. I’d pay to stay there. Better than cell where my wife and son have cruelly imprisoned me.
