asylum

asylum

English

Etymology

From Latin asylum, from Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /əˈsaɪləm/

Noun

asylum (plural asylums or asyla)

1. A place of safety or refuge.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), OCLC 630079698, page 295:

     All the busy concerns of daily existence were utterly abhorrent to me. I loathed the sound of others' voices—I hated to be mixed up with their petty routine of ordinary cares; here was an asylum offered to me—here I might lay down all the offices of humanity, and dwell beside that grave whose rest was now my only desire.

2. The protection, physical and legal, afforded by such a place (as, for example, for political refugees).
3. (dated) A place of protection or restraint for one or more classes of the disadvantaged, especially the mentally ill.
   • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:

     Of all the queer collections of humans outside of a crazy asylum, it seemed to me this sanitarium was the cup winner. […] When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose.

Synonyms

• sanctuary
• shelter

Derived terms

• asylee
• asylum seeker
• insane asylum
• lunatic asylum
• lunatics have taken over the asylum
• Magdalene asylum
• mental asylum
• orphan asylum
• political asylum

 

Translations

place of safety

Albanian: azil (sq) m Arabic: مَلْجَأ‎ m (maljaʾ), مَوْئِل‎ (ar) m (mawʾil) Hijazi Arabic: مَلْجَأ‎ m (maljaʼ) Armenian: ապաստան (hy) (apastan) Azerbaijani: pənah, sığıncaq Belarusian: прыту́лак m (prytúlak) Bengali: পানা (bn) (pana) Bulgarian: убе́жище (bg) n (ubéžište) Burmese: ခိုလှုံခွင့် (my) (hkuihlumhkwang.) Catalan: asil (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 庇護／庇护 (zh) (bìhù), 避難所／避难所 (zh) (bìnànsuǒ) Czech: útočiště (cs) n, azyl (cs) m Danish: asyl (da) n Dutch: asiel (nl) n Esperanto: azilo Estonian: varjupaik, asüül (et) Finnish: turvapaikka (fi) French: asile (fr) m Galician: asilo (gl) m Georgian: თავშესაფარი (tavšesapari) German: Asyl (de) m Greek: άσυλο (el) (ásylo) Ancient: ἄσυλον n (ásulon) Hebrew: (please verify) הקדש‎ (hekdeish), (please verify) מדיני‎ (he) Hindi: पनाह (hi) f (panāh), पनाहगाह m (panāhgāh), शरण (hi) f (śaraṇ) Hungarian: menhely (hu), menedékhely (hu) Indonesian: asilum, suaka (id), perlindungan Italian: asilo (it) m Japanese: アジール (ajīru), アサイラム (asairamu), 避難所 (ひなんじょ, hinanjo), 養護施設 (ようごしせつ, yōgo sisetsu) (for children) Kazakh: баспана (baspana), бассауға (bassauğa), пана (pana) Khmer: បដិសរណដ្ឋាន (km) (paʼdesaʼrĕəʼnatthaan), ទីជ្រកកោន (tii crɔɔk kaon) Korean: 망명(亡命) (ko) (mangmyeong), 피난처(避難處) (ko) (pinancheo) Kurdish: Northern Kurdish: penageh (ku) Kyrgyz: башкалка (başkalka) Latvian: patvērums m Lithuanian: prieglauda f, prieglobstis m Macedonian: уточиште n (utočište), азил m (azil) Malay: suaka (ms) Maltese: refuġju Maori: piringa Middle English: grith Mongolian: Cyrillic: орогнол (mn) (orognol) Norwegian: Bokmål: asyl n Nynorsk: asyl n Occitan: asil (oc) m Pashto: پناه‎ m (panāh), پناه ګاه‎ m (panāh gāh) Persian: پناه‎ (fa) (panâh), پناه گاه‎ (fa) (panâh gâh) Polish: azyl (pl) m, przytułek (pl) m Portuguese: asilo (pt) m Romanian: azil (ro) n, adăpost (ro) n, sanctuar (ro) n Russian: убе́жище (ru) n (ubéžišče), прибе́жище (ru) n (pribéžišče), приста́нище (ru) n (pristánišče), прию́т (ru) m (prijút) Sanskrit: ओकस् (sa) n (okas) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: а̀зӣл m, у̀точӣште n Roman: àzīl (sh) m, ùtočīšte (sh) n Slovak: azyl m, útočište n Slovene: azil (sl) m, zatočišče n, pribežališče n Spanish: asilo (es) m, santuario (es) m Swedish: asyl (sv) c Tagalog: kalingaan Tajik: паноҳгоҳ (panohgoh), паноҳ (panoh) Turkish: sığınak (tr), iltica (tr) Turkmen: gaçybatalga Ukrainian: приту́лок (uk) m (prytúlok) Urdu: پناہ‎ f (panāh), پناہگاہ‎‎ m (panāhgāh) Uyghur: پاناھگاھ‎ (panahgah), پاناھ‎ (panah), جاي‎ (jay) Uzbek: boshpana (uz), joy (uz), panoh (uz), panohgoh (uz) Vietnamese: viện cứu tế

mental asylum

Arabic: لُجُوء‎ m (lujūʾ) Belarusian: псыхіятры́чны шпіта́ль f (psyxijatrýčny špitálʹ), вар'я́цкі дом m (varʺjácki dom) Bulgarian: лу́дница f (lúdnica) Dutch: psychiatrische instelling f Finnish: mielisairaala (fi) French: asile psychiatrique m German: psychiatrische Anstalt f Hungarian: elmegyógyintézet (hu) Irish: gealtlann f Italian: manicomio (it) m Macedonian: лудница f (ludnica) Maltese: manikomju Maori: hōhipera mate hinengaro Polish: szpital psychiatryczny (pl) m, dom obłąkanych m Portuguese: manicómio (pt) m (Portugal), manicômio (pt) m (Brazil), hospício (pt) (Brazil) Romanian: azil (ro) n Russian: психиатри́ческая лече́бница f (psixiatríčeskaja lečébnica), психиатри́ческая больни́ца f (psixiatríčeskaja bolʹníca), психбольни́ца (ru) f (psixbolʹníca), психу́шка (ru) f (psixúška) (colloquial), сумасше́дший дом (ru) f (sumasšédšij dom) (colloquial), дурдо́м (ru) m (durdóm) (pejorative) Spanish: manicomio (es) m Swedish: mentalsjukhus (sv) n Ukrainian: психіатри́чна ліка́рня f (psyxiatrýčna likárnja), божеві́льня (uk) m (boževílʹnja)

right of asylum — see right of asylum

See also

• non-refoulement
• refugee

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Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἄσυλον (ásulon).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /aˈsyː.lum/, [äˈs̠yːɫ̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈsi.lum/, [äˈs̬iːlum]

Noun

asȳlum n (genitive asȳlī); second declension

1. asylum (place of refuge), sanctuary

   Synonyms: latebra, receptāculum, tēctum, refugium, dēverticulum

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	asȳlum	asȳla
Genitive	asȳlī	asȳlōrum
Dative	asȳlō	asȳlīs
Accusative	asȳlum	asȳla
Ablative	asȳlō	asȳlīs
Vocative	asȳlum	asȳla

Descendants

• Catalan: asil
• → English: asylum
• French: asile
• Galician: asilo
• → German: Asyl
• Italian: asilo
• Occitan: asil
• Portuguese: asilo
• Spanish: asilo

References

• “asylum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asylum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• asylum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “asylum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “asylum”, in Samuel Ball Platner (1929), Thomas Ashby, editor, A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, London: Oxford University Press
• “asylum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin