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Etymology and origin of the Italian word hotel

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1813, Ugo Foscolo
Borrowed from
French hôtel
Ultimate origin
Latin hospes
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French hôtel
English hotel
German Hotel
Italian hotel

Pronunciation

Forms

hotel m (invariable)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French hôtel, from Old French ostel (“lodging, house”), recorded about 1050.[2][3][4][1] The Old French word continues Late Latin hospitale (“lodging for guests”), the neuter of Latin hospitālis (“of guests”), which DELI and Sabatini–Coletti trace to a phrase “cubiculum hospitale”, “room for guests”.[5][6][7] The Latin adjective is formed on hospes (“host; guest”).[1][8][6]

In French the word moved from “dwelling” to “private residence” and finally to “inn, hotel”.[5] The same Latin noun is the source of ospedale and of ostello, which Old Italian took earlier from the Old French word.[1][9][10] An Italianised spelling otello is also found.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the word to 1813, in Ugo Foscolo's translation of Laurence Sterne's Sentimental Journey:[3][2] “Monsieur Dessein, padrone dell'hôtel, era a' vespri” (“Monsieur Dessein, the master of the hotel, was at vespers”).[11] DELI's first record is 1883, and that of grand hotel 1890, in Emilio De Marchi.[5]

Semantic evolution

Italian also took the French sense “private mansion” for a time;[5] DELI records it in 1860.[5] The word spread quickly but was resisted as a foreign word: under Fascism it was first taxed (1925) and then replaced by law with albergo (1940), as Cardinal Giacomo Antonelli had already tried to do in papal Rome before 1876.[5][10]

Today hotel is an everyday synonym of albergo, common above all in the names of hotels.[3][6] French compounds came in with it, such as hôtel garni or hotel meublé, a hotel that offers rooms but no restaurant.[12][13] In the Italian spelling alphabet Hotel stands for the letter H.[1]

Timeline

  • About 1050 – Old French ostel is recorded.[3]
  • 1813 – Ugo Foscolo uses hôtel in his translation of Sterne.[3][2]
  • 1860 – The word is used for a private mansion.[5]
  • 1890 – Emilio De Marchi writes grand hotel.[5]
  • 1925 – The word is taxed as a foreign word.[5]
  • 1940 – Its replacement by albergo is made compulsory.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hotel; an albergo: Abbiamo prenotato una camera in un hotel vicino alla stazione.[3][4][7]
  2. (spelling alphabet) The letter H.[1]

Usage notes

Hotel diffuso is a hotel whose rooms are spread over several buildings in a village or old town centre, and hotel a ore a hotel that rents rooms by the hour.[4] The word is pronounced /oˈtɛl/, without the h.[4][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  4. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  6. ^ a b c Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  7. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1901
  11. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. Supplemento 2004
  12. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Hotel.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/hotel. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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