ghos-ti-

Stranger, guest, host; properly “someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality.”

1. Basic form *ghos-ti-.

a.

(i) guest, from Old Norse gestr, guest;

(ii) Gastarbeiter, from Old High German gast, guest. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *gastiz;

b. host², hostile, from Latin hostis, enemy (< “stranger”).

2. Compound *ghos-pot-, *ghos-po(d)-, “guest-master,” one who symbolizes the relationship of reciprocal obligation (*pot-, master; see poti-). hospice, hospitable, hospital, hospitality, host¹, hostage, hostel, hostler, from Latin hospes (stem hospit-), host, guest, stranger.

3. Suffixed zero-grade form *ghs-en-wo-. xenia, xeno-, xenon; axenic, euxenite, pyroxene, from Greek xenos, guest, host, stranger.

 

[Pokorny ghosti-s 453.]

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