hôtel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /o.tɛl/^[1]
• IPA: /ɔ.tɛl/^[1]

Forms

hôtel m (plural hôtels)^[1] Old French ostel (about 1050), hostel (from the 13th century), hôtel (mid-17th century); the ⟨s⟩, silent since the end of the 12th century, was replaced by the circumflex.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ostel, inherited from Late Latin hospitāle (“guest room; inn”) (from “hospitale cubiculum”),^{[4][2][5][3][1][6]} the neuter of hospitālis (“of a guest”), used as a noun, from hospes (“host; guest”), the source of hôte.^[2][3][7] It is a doublet of the learned hôpital.^[1]

The same Latin word gave Occitan ostal, Spanish hostal and Italian ostello;^[8] Italian spedale, ospedale “hospital” passed into German “Spital”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) the saint asks for lit ed ostel e pain e carn e vin, a bed, lodging, bread, meat and wine: the word means lodging, shelter.^[4][8][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French ostel was a place of shelter, an army's camp (Chanson de Roland), one's own house (about 1135), the guest house of a monastery (about 1225) and an inn (early 13th century); Hôtel-Dieu (about 1250) was the “house of God”, a hospital.^[4][2] The sense “inn” formed in the rich towns of the North in the 13th century and became general only at the end of the 15th.^[5]

From the king's ostel, his residence and household (about 1225^[5][2][4]; maître d'hôtel, about 1398), the word came to mean the town house of a great lord, and Nicot (1606) says that in Paris only such houses and the hostel de ville (1538) deserve the name.^[5][2][4] Today an hôtel is mainly a hotel, but also a grand town house (hôtel particulier) and a public building such as the hôtel des Monnaies.^[9][10]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Ostel “lodging” (Alexis).^[4][2]
• c. 1100 – A camp (Roland).^[4]
• c. 1135 – One's own house.^[4][2]
• early 13th century – An inn.^[4][5]
• c. 1250 – Ostel Dieu.^[2][5]
• 1478 – Ostel commun, the town hall^[4][7]; hostel de ville (1538).^[4][7]
• mid-17th century – The spelling hôtel.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hotel.^[9][1]
2. A grand town house, a mansion: hôtel particulier.^[9][1]
3. A large public building: hôtel de ville, town hall^[9][10]; hôtel des Monnaies, the Mint.^[9][10]
4. Maître d'hôtel: a head waiter, a butler.^[9][7]

Word family

• hôtel-Dieu
• hôtelier
• hôtellerie

Related words

• hôte
• hôpital
• hospice
• Latin hospitālis
• English hotel
• English hostel

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 495a
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)