Etymograph

English

host

Host comes from Old French oste ‘innkeeper’, from Latin hospes ‘host, guest’, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis ‘master of guests’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰóstipotis‘master of guests’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hostipotisreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhospes‘a host’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oste‘innkeeper’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoste
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602host

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰóstipotis‘master of guests’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hostipotisreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhospes‘a host’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oste‘innkeeper’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoste
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602host

Earliest quotation: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Time is like a fashionable host, / That slightly…”

A compound of *gʰóstis ‘guest’ + *pótis ‘master, ruler’

Proto-Indo-European *gʰes- ‘to eat’

Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis ‘guest’

Proto-Indo-European *gʰes- ‘to eat’

Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis ‘guest’

Proto-Indo-European *pótis ‘master, ruler’

Linked words

through Proto-Italic *hostipotis

hospitality, hotelier, hospitalist, 10 more

through Latin hospes ‘a host, also a sojourner, visitor, guest’

hotel, hospital, hospice, hospitable, 13 more

Another origin of host

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰes-‘to eat’uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰóstis‘guest’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hostisreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhostis‘foreign enemy’
  5. Old Frenchc. 842–1400ost‘army’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500oost‘host, army’
  7. Englishtodayhost

Another origin of host

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰes-‘hand’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰostiyo-reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhostia‘sacrificial victim’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400hoiste
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500host
  6. Englishtodaysame form

Today it means

noun One which receives or entertains a guest, socially, commercially, or officially.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis / host

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