hóspede

Forms

hóspede m or f by sense (plural hóspedes)^[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote ospede and hospede.^[2][3] As a noun the word also has a feminine hóspeda, which Priberam calls the less used form.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin hospes (“guest; host”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ospede in the oldest texts.^[2][6][7][1] Houaiss glosses the Latin word both as the one who receives a stranger and as the one who is received, and Nascentes calls the Portuguese word semi-learned and both active and passive, “host” as well as “guest”.^[2][7]

The same Latin word is Galician hóspede, Spanish huésped, Catalan hoste, French hôte, Italian ospite and Romanian oaspete.^[8][1]

De Vaan explains the Latin word as a compound of hostis (“stranger”) and the root of potis (“able”), inflected as a consonant stem.^[9] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Italic *hostipotis and *gʰóstipotis, the same compound as *gospodь (“lord”).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lorenzo's chronology finds the word in town laws dated 1188–1230, todo omne que ospede coier en sua casa “any man who takes a guest into his house”, and in a charter of 1228.^[3] The early texts use it for both sides of the relation: in the Miragres de Santiago the ospede is the man who lodges a pilgrim in his house, an innkeeper, while the Crónica Geral uses it for the one who receives lodging.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) still gives the host first, “the man who gives lodging to travellers”, and the guest second.^[10] Morais (1813) adds the innkeeper and the passing traveller, and the phrase estar hóspede “to be a newcomer” in an art or science.^[11] Figueiredo (1899) records the adjective “strange, foreign” and, figuratively, “ignorant of something”.^[12] The sense “host” is now obsolete.^[2][4] In biology the word names a parasite in relation to the organism that harbours it.^[13][14]

Timeline

• 1188–1230 – ospede in town laws printed in the Portugaliae Monumenta Historica.^[3]
• 1228 – a ospede in a charter.^[3]
• 13th century – Houaiss records the spellings hospede and ospede.^[2][6]
• c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (copied 1390–1437) writes ospede.^[15]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau gives the senses “host” and “guest” and the proverbs about guests.^[10]
• 1734 – Feijó notes that the second syllable is short, so that the stress falls on the first.^[16]
• 1813 – Morais records estar hóspede “to be a newcomer” in a field.^[11]
• 1899 – Figueiredo enters the adjective “strange; ignorant of something”.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. A guest: a person staying for a time in another's house, or in a hotel, pensão or inn.^{[2][4][14][1]}
2. (obsolete) A host, one who gives lodging; hospedeiro.^[2][4]
3. A stranger, a pilgrim (peregrino) or a foreigner travelling in a country.^[2][17][13]
4. (biology) A parasite in relation to the organism that harbours it.^[13][14]

Adjective

1. Strange, alien (alheio), belonging to others.^[2][14]
2. (figurative) Ignorant of a subject; lay (leigo): Sou hóspede em economia.^[2][14][13]
3. Living in or frequenting a place.^[2][14]

Word family

• hospedar
• hospedagem
• hospedaria
• hospedeiro

Related words

• hospital
• hospício
• hospitaleiro
• hospitalidade
• hoste
• Latin hospes
• Spanish huésped

Usage notes

Bluteau quotes the proverbs O hospede, & o peixe, aos tres dias fede “the guest and the fish stink after three days” and Hospede de maõ vazia, ande là via “an empty-handed guest may go on his way”.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. hóspede
3. ^ a b c d e Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. ospede
4. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. hóspede
5. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. hóspede
6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. hóspede
7. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. hóspede
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. hóspede
11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 121
12. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 711
13. ^ a b c d Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. hóspede
14. ^ a b c d e f Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. hóspede
15. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. ospede
16. ^ Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. hóspede
17. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5022