Berlin Trip : Spittelmarkt Name

Another one of my etymological posts as I’m fascinated by the development of language. I was intrigued to read that Spittelmarkt is a reference to the Saint Gertrude Hospital which once stood at this location and that in itself is the same derivative as Spitalfields in the UK, a contraction of the word ‘hospital’. The Latin word was ‘hospitale’ and it was the Germans who contracted it, which then was imported to the UK, although we still use the original Latin word of course. Although most references in the UK are to the Spitalfields in London, there is also one in Norwich.

Anyway, I digress, but I thought it was intriguing…