Etymologically
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Gast

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Pronunciation

Forms

Gast m (genitive Gastes or Gasts, plural Gäste, feminine (uncommon) Gästin or Gastin)[1] In the sense “sailor with a particular duty” the plural is Gasten.[2] The feminine Gästin is recorded since Old High German gestin, but rarely.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German gast, inherited from Old High German gast, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *gasti, inherited from Proto-Germanic *gastiz (“stranger, guest”).[4][1][5] The same word is Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍃𐍄𐍃 (gasts, “stranger”), Old Norse gestr, Old English giest, Old Frisian jest and Old Saxon gast, and today Dutch gast, Swedish gäst and Icelandic gestur.[4][5][6] English guest has its initial /g/ from the Old Norse word.[7][8]

It continues Proto-Indo-European *gʰóstis (“stranger”), also found in Latin hostis (“stranger, enemy”) and Old Church Slavonic гость (gostĭ, “guest”).[4][5][1] hospes (“host, guest-friend”) goes back to a compound “master of the stranger”, like господь (gospodĭ, “lord”).[4][7] The Indo-European word named both the stranger who came in peace and was given shelter and the one who came as an enemy;[7][3][9] Latin kept the hostile sense, Germanic early the friendly one.[7][3][9] Its further origin is unclear: Kluge mentions a connection with Ancient Greek ξένος (xénos, “stranger, guest”) and with an Indo-Iranian verb meaning “to eat”, as if the guest were “one who is fed”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German gast is recorded from the second half of the 8th century in glosses, and then in the Benedictine Rule, the confessions, the Tatian, Otfrid and Notker, meaning “stranger, guest, guest-friend, visitor”.[8][10] Earlier still, Germanic personal names ending in -gastiz appear in runic inscriptions, such as hlewagastiz on the golden horn of Gallehus (about 400).[8]

Semantic evolution

Middle High German gast could still mean “warrior, enemy warrior” as well as “stranger” and “guest”.[7][11] Early New High German also used it for a foreign merchant.[12] The honourable sense of a welcome guest became general only at the end of the Middle Ages, with the growth of towns, trade and inns.[3][7] Until the 17th century the word could mean simply “warrior, man”, and Schottelius in 1663 notes that a brave man is called ein Gast; from this come the seamen's Rudergast and Signalgast (1767).[2]

Many compounds trace the history of hospitality: Old High German gasthūs, Gasthof (1420), Gastfreund (Maaler, 1561, for Latin hospes), Gastgeber, which meant “innkeeper” before it meant “host” (from 1711), Gastspiel (about 1850), Gaststätte (1909, replacing Hotel and Restauration) and Gastarbeiter (1961, replacing Fremdarbeiter).[2][7][3] The jocular use of Gästin dates from the second half of the 20th century.[3]

Timeline

  • About 400 – The runic name hlewagastiz on the horn of Gallehus.[8]
  • Second half of the 8th century – Old High German gast appears in glosses.[8]
  • 8th century – gasthūs is recorded.[7]
  • 1420 – Gasthof is recorded.[2]
  • 1561 – Maaler forms Gastfreund.[2][7]
  • 1616 – Gastfreundschaft is recorded.[2]
  • 17th century – gastieren “to entertain guests” appears.[7]
  • 1711 – Gastgeber is used for a host.[2]
  • 1767 – Seamen's Rudergast is recorded.[2]
  • About 1850 – Gastspiel appears.[2]
  • 1909 – Gaststätte is introduced.[7][2]
  • 1961 – Gastarbeiter is recorded.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A guest, a person invited to a meal or a stay: zum Geburtstag kommen viele Gäste.[13][1]
  2. A customer of a restaurant, or a person staying at a hotel: ein Gast bestellt Kaffee.[13]
  3. A visitor who stays for a time in a place or circle not their own: als Gast an einer Sitzung teilnehmen.[13]
  4. A visiting performer.[13]
  5. (sports) The visiting team or player: die Gäste gewannen 2:1.[13]
  6. (chiefly northern Germany, with a pejorative adjective) A fellow: ein komischer Gast.[13]
  7. (nautical; plural Gasten) A sailor with a particular duty, as in Signalgast.[2]

Word family

  • Gästin
  • gastieren
  • gastlich
  • gastfrei
  • Gastfreund
  • Gastfreundschaft
  • gastfreundlich
  • Gastgeber
  • Gasthaus
  • Gasthof
  • Gastmahl
  • Gastspiel
  • Gaststätte
  • Gastwirt
  • Gastwirtschaft
  • Gastarbeiter
  • Fahrgast

Usage notes

Bei jemandem zu Gast sein is to be someone's guest, and dasitzen wie der steinerne Gast is to sit in company without taking part in the talk, after the stone statue that takes revenge in the Spanish legend of Don Juan.[13] Schiller's line Hier wendet sich der Gast mit Grausen from Der Ring des Polykrates became a common quotation.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  3. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  4. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 334
  5. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  8. ^ a b c d e Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 4, 98
  9. ^ a b Wahrig-Burfeind, Renate, ed., Wahrig Herkunftswörterbuch, Gütersloh / München: Wissen Media Verlag; online edition at wissen.de
  10. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 123
  11. ^ Lexer, Matthias (1872–1878), Mittelhochdeutsches Handwörterbuch, 3 vols., Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 1, 742
  12. ^ Anderson, Robert R.; Goebel, Ulrich; Reichmann, Oskar, eds. (1989–), Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch, Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; FWB-online, fwb-online.de
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag