Niin, jos sanan voi jotain sanoa tarkoittavan, lienee se siis Beetlehemin kaupunkia. Kauhuleffa taas kertonee juuri tuosta Elukan viittaamasta sairaalasta. Ohessa vielä Oxford English Dictionaryn viisautta (ja omaa nimimerkkiäni selittänee se, että koen kiinnostavaksi postailla tänne tällaisia sotkuja...):Elukka kirjoitti:On se vähän muutakin...bedlam kirjoitti:Omasta riil-laif-nimestä koetin keksiä jonku yyberkuulin väännelmän ja siitä se ajatus sitten lähti. Pienellä väännöllä etu- ja sukunimiyhdistelmästä sain sen sitten aikaan ja googlaamalla huomattuani sen olevan Boris Karloffin tähdittämän kauhuleffankin nimi, oli asia sillä selvä.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bethlem_Royal_Hospital
1. The town of Bethlehem in Judea. Obs.
Esimerkit käytöstä tässä merkityksessä:
971 Blickl. Hom. 93 a he on Betleem wæs acenned. c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 31 And tealde e herdes e wakeden ouer here oref biside e burch belleem [? betleem]. c1200 ORMIN 3360 He borenn iss I Davi kingess chesstre, at iss ehatenn Beleæm. a1300 Cursor M. 11234 at blisful bir in bethleem [Gött. betheleem, Laud a1400 bedlem]. 1382 WYCLIF Luke ii, A cite of Dauith that is cleped Bedleem. c1440 Lay-Folks Mass-Bk. C. 109 Ihesu, at was in bedlem borne. 1616 Pasquil & Kath. v. 206 M. Mamon is in a Citie of Iurie, called Bethlem, alias, plaine Bedlame.
2. The Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem, used as an asylum for the reception and cure of mentally deranged persons; originally situated in Bishopsgate, in 1676 rebuilt near London Wall, and in 1815 transferred to Lambeth. Jack or Tom o' Bedlam: a madman.
Esimerkit käytöstä:
1528 TINDALE Obed. Chr. Man (1848) 184 For they..do things which they of Bedlam may see that they are but madness. 1562 J. HEYWOOD Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 107 Lyke Iacke of Bedlem in and out whipping. 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 34 Could sute them in no place but in Bedlam and Bridewell. 1593 SHAKES. 2 Hen. VI, v. i. 131 To Bedlem with him! Is the man growne mad? 1605 Lear I. ii. 148 With a sighe like Tom o' Bedlam. 1678 EVELYN Mem. (1857) II. 126, I went to see new Bedlam Hospital..most sweetly placed in Moorfields, since the dreadful fire. 1866 G. MACDONALD Ann. Q. Neighb. xi. (1878) 223 There was I..in as strait a jacket as ever poor wretch in Bedlam.
3. By extension: A lunatic asylum, a madhouse.
1663 Aron-bimnucha 32 The Bedlam..the skrews..are the best instances of our kindness. 1699 POMFRET Love triumph. Reason 170 'Twas both an hospital and bedlam too. 1702 C. MATHER Magn. Christi VII. iv. (1852) 525 A Bethlehem seems to have been fitter for them than a gallows. a1743 LD. HERVEY Beauties Eng. (1804) I. 106 Those virgins act a wiser part Who hospitals and bedlams would explore.
b. abstr. Madness, lunacy. Also interjectionally.
1598 MARSTON Pygmal. III. 149 Bedlame, Frenzie, Madnes, Lunacie, I challenge all your moody Empery. a1645 HABINGTON Fine Y. Folly v, Bedlam! this is pretty sport.
4. fig. A scene of mad confusion or uproar.
a1667 COWLEY Cromwell Wks. 1710 II. 627 Thou dost..A Babel, and a Bedlam grow. 1713 Guardian No. 132 (1756) II. 194 Our house is a sort of Bedlam, and nothing in order. 1850 CARLYLE Latter-d. Pamph. viii. (1872) 276 That all this was a Donnybrook Bedlam.
5. An inmate of Bethlehem Hospital, London, or of a lunatic asylum, or one fit for such a place, a madman; spec. one of the discharged, but often only half-cured, patients of the former, who were licensed to beg, wearing as a badge a tin plate on their left hand or arm; called also bedlam-beggars, bedlamers, bedlamites. Obs.
1522 SKELTON Why not to Courte Wks. II. 653 Such a madde bedleme For to rewle this reame. 1541 BARNES Wks. (1573) 294/2 A scorge to tame those bedlames with. 1545 COVERDALE Abridgm. Erasm. Enchir. iii. Wks. 1844 I. 500 The world judgeth us to be fools..and to be mad bedlames. 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. II. 169 The veriest bedlems that can be. 1611 COTGR. s.v. Affamé, A hungry Boore is halfe a bedlam. 1626 L. OWEN Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 37 The Duke imagining him to bee a foole, or a bedlem..let him goe. 1678 BUNYAN Pilgr. I. 123 Some [said] they were Bedlams. 1701 SWIFT Mrs. Harris' Petit. Wks. 1755 III. II. 61 She roar'd like a Bedlam.
