guest

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡest/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English gest,^[2][3] probably borrowed from Old Norse gestr,^[2][4][5] replacing the related Old English gæst, giest, Anglian gest, “a chance comer, a stranger”, in which the g was pronounced like y;^[2][6] the native word would have given modern *yest.^[6] Both are from Proto-Germanic *gastiz,^[6][2] also the source of Dutch and German Gast and Gothic gasts “stranger, guest”,^[6][4] from Proto-Indo-European *ghos-ti- (“stranger, guest, host”),^[6][2] which also gave Latin hostis, earlier “stranger”, later “enemy”,^[6][4][5] and Old Church Slavonic gostĭ “guest”.^[4] According to Watkins the root sense is probably “someone with whom one has reciprocal duties of hospitality”.^[6] It is related to host and hostile.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English gæst, a guest, stranger or enemy, is from about 725, in Beowulf.^[2] The OED's first sense, one entertained at another's house or table, is from before 1000,^[7] and gest in Middle English is probably from before 1200, in the Ancrene Riwle.^[2]

Semantic evolution

A stranger, the older sense, is now obsolete.^[7] A person staying at an inn for pay is from the late 13th century.^[6][7] Old English also had cuma “stranger, guest”, literally “a comer”.^[6] A fellow or customer is from about 1394, obsolete except in dialect.^[7] A parasite animal or plant is from 1864,^[7] and an occasional performer not of the regular company from 1900.^[7] The verb, to receive as a guest, is from the early 14th century,^[6][7] and to appear as a guest performer from 1936 in American English.^[6][7] Be my guest, go ahead, is from 1955.^[6][7] In Scotland and the north of England a guest could also be a ghost or spectre.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English gæst.^[2]
• a. 1200 – Middle English gest.^[2]
• late 13th century – a paying guest.^[6][7]
• early 14th century – verb, to receive as a guest.^[6]
• 1900 – a guest performer.^[7]
• 1936 – verb, to appear as a guest.^[6][7]
• 1955 – be my guest.^[6][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A person who is given hospitality at another's home or table, or at a party.
2. A person who pays for a room or meals at a hotel or restaurant.
3. A visiting performer or participant: a guest on the show.
4. An animal or plant that lives as a parasite on another.

Verb

1. To appear as a guest performer.
2. To entertain as a guest.

Word family

• guestless
• guesthouse
• guestlist
• houseguest
• guest of honor
• guest room
• guest worker

Related words

• host
• hostile
• hospitality
• xenophobia

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)