Etymologically
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hostage

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 14:21. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈhɒs.tɪdʒ/, US /ˈhɑː.stɪdʒ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English ostage, borrowed from Old French ostage (“kindness, lodging, pledge, a person given as security”) (modern French otage),[2][3][4][5] of uncertain origin.[3] Barnhart, Watkins and Merriam-Webster derive it from oste (“guest”) (see host), through the idea of a lodger held by a landlord as security.[2][3][5] The OED, Hoad and the NODE derive it instead from Late Latin obsidātus (“the state of being a hostage”), from Latin obses (“hostage”), from ob- (“before”) and the root of sedeō (“to sit”), with the h added under the influence of host.[3][4][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The handing over of a person as a pledge, and a person so held: about 1275 in the OED, the late 13th century in Etymonline, about 1300 in Barnhart.[8][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Originally an ally or enemy handed over a hostage as security for an undertaking; now hostages are taken, and seldom given willingly.[7] Any pledge or security is from about 1400, as in to give hostages to fortune.[8][7] The modern sense, a person seized by criminals or a political group to obtain demands, is first recorded in the 1970s.[2] The verb, to give as a hostage, is from 1624.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – a hostage, a pledge.[8]
  • c. 1400 – any pledge or security.[8]
  • 1624 – to hostage (verb).[8]
  • 1970s – a person seized to obtain demands.[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person held by one party as security that demands or terms will be met.
  2. The state of being held as a hostage.
  3. Any security or pledge.
  4. give hostages to fortune: to risk misfortune through what one values most.

Word family

  • hostageship

Usage notes

An obsolete hostage, an inn or hostelry (about 1440), is a separate word.[8]

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 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press