hospita

Forms

hospita f (genitive hospitae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin hospes (“guest, host”), a feminine formed like antistita and sospita.^[2][1][3] De Vaan explains that noun as a compound of hostis (“stranger”) and the root of potis (“able”), from Proto-Italic *χostipot-, and compares Paelignian hospus (“stranger”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler finds it first in Plautus,^[3] who has it in the Miles gloriosus of a female guest and in the Persa of a stranger.^[1]

Semantic evolution

As a noun it is a female guest, a hostess or landlady, as Cicero has of a man charmed by his hostess's looks, and a woman bound to a family by ties of hospitality, as Cicero says of Servilia.^[1] Ovid calls the town of Tomis a faithful hostess.^[1] As an adjective it is hospitable, as Virgil's water once open to ships and now to wagons, and foreign, as Virgil's foreign bride for the Trojans.^[1] In Medieval Latin it is a hostess or innkeeper.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a female guest and a stranger.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a hostess.^[1][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, as an adjective “hospitable, foreign”.^[1][3]
• Medieval Latin – An innkeeper, landlady.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A female guest.^[1]
2. A hostess, a host's wife; a landlady.^[1][5]
3. A woman linked to someone by traditional ties of hospitality.^[1]
4. A stranger, foreigner.^[1]

Adjective

1. Of places, giving hospitality, hospitable.^[1]
2. Received as a guest.^[1]
3. Foreign, alien.^[1]

Related words

• hospes
• hospitium
• hostis

Usage notes

The grammarian Probus asked whether Virgil's feminine adjective in hospita terra implied a masculine hospes, hospiter or hospitus.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill