hôtesse

Forms

hôtesse f (plural hôtesses, masculine hôte)^[1] Old French ostesce and ostesse, then hostesse with an etymological ⟨h⟩.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French hôte + -esse, as the feminine of the word for “host”.^[1][5][6] The base is from Latin hospes (“one who gives or receives hospitality”), through its accusative hospitem.^[6][2][5][7] Picoche counts both words among the popular (inherited) members of this Latin family.^[8]

The modern sense “air hostess” follows the English word hostess: Rey calls the French phrase a calque of the American English air hostess (1934), and Bloch and Wartburg date the French sense to 1957.^[3][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine first appears about 1150 as ostesce in Wace's Vie de saint Nicolas, for a woman who keeps an inn.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French hostesse was above all the innkeeper or the innkeeper's wife, a sense still common in the 18th and early 19th centuries;^[3][4] it gradually merged with the wider sense of a woman who receives guests in her home.^[3] Until the 17th century hôtesse could also name a woman who was received as a guest; in that sense modern French uses hôte for a woman too.^[3]

The word was taken up again about 1950 in hôtesse de l'air, for a woman who looks after passengers on an aircraft, and then, alone or in phrases such as hôtesse d'accueil, for a woman employed to welcome visitors or customers.^[3][10]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Ostesce “woman innkeeper” appears in Wace.^[6][2]
• 13th century – Bloch and Wartburg and Picoche date hôtesse to this century.^[5][8]
• 1606 – Table d'hôte, the shared table of an inn, is recorded.^[10][3]
• 17th century – Hôtesse stops being used for a woman guest.^[3]
• c. 1950 – Hôtesse de l'air is formed after American English air hostess.^[3][10]
• 1957 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for the aviation sense.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman who receives guests in her home, a hostess.^[10][6]
2. (dated) A woman who keeps an inn or tavern, a landlady.^[10][3]
3. Hôtesse de l'air, or hôtesse alone: a female flight attendant, an air hostess.^[10][3]
4. Hôtesse d'accueil: a woman employed to welcome visitors, a receptionist.^[3]
5. Robe d'hôtesse: a long, elegant house dress.^[10]

Related words

• hôte
• hôtel
• otage
• Latin hospes

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e 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
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 491a
8. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 134b
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert