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*gʰóstipotis1‘master of guests’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hostipotis1reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhospes1‘a host’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400oste1‘innkeeper’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hoste1
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602host1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English host
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: c. 1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida: “Time is like a fashionable host, / That slightly…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*gʰóstipotisWiktionary, English host‘master of guests’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*hostipotisWiktionary, English hostreconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhospesWiktionary, English host‘a host’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400osteWiktionary, English host‘innkeeper’
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hosteWiktionary, English host
  6. Englishearliest quotation c. 1602hostWiktionary, English host. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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-Europeanc. 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-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵʰostiyo-reconstructed
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEhostia‘sacrificial victim’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400hoiste
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500host
  6. Englishtodayhost

Today it means

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

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “host”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstipotis / host

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