Etymologically
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hostia

Etymology and origin of the Latin word hostia

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Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
Ennius
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin hostia
English host

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈhɔs.ti.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔs.ti.a][1]

Forms

hostia f (genitive hostiae); first declension[1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.[2][3] Festus connects it with hostīre (“to strike”), so that it would be “the one struck”, and the TLL allows a link with hostīre and hostis.[4][5][3] Wiktionary instead derives it from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰostiyo-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰes- (“hand”).[1] Festus also records an archaic form fostia.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Ennius (204–169 BC).[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant an animal offered in sacrifice, a victim, hostia maior a full-grown one, as in Cicero's Laws, which also name the hostia lactens, a suckling victim.[2][7] It was usually an expiatory sacrifice whose entrails the haruspices read, as distinct from victima.[5][7]

In Christian Latin it was the eucharistic sacrifice, the consecrated bread, the Host.[8][1] English host “consecrated bread” came from it around 1300.[9]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.[6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of suckling and full-grown victims.[7][6]
  • c. 1300 – English host (the bread) is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A sacrificial animal, victim, hostia maior, a full-grown victim.[2][1]
  2. A sacrifice, offering.[1][6]
  3. (Christian Latin) The host, the consecrated bread.[8][1]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A beast for slaughter.[8]

Word family

  • hostiātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Hostia.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/hostia. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·