Hoste

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A surname found in English-speaking cultures ; an obsolete form of the word for a person who receives or entertains guests ; a rare variant spelling for someone who runs an inn or lodging house
2. Used historically as a last name in various regions ; an archaic term once used for an innkeeper or entertainer of visitors ; occasionally an alternate form for one responsible for accommodating travelers
3. Functions as a family name ; in earlier English, referred to someone welcoming guests or managing social gatherings ; sometimes an uncommon spelling for a proprietor of lodging establishments

Etymology: The Latin "hospes" meant both "host" and "guest," and it could also mean a stranger. Its close relative "hostis" meant "stranger" before it came to mean "enemy," so the same ancient root gave English both hospitality and hostility. Old French passed "hoste" along to English, where it meant the person who receives and feeds visitors, and the root also gave English "hostage," a person held as a guarantee between parties. This spelling is an older form of "host," the sense of someone who welcomes and entertains guests, and it appears in medieval English as a term for an innkeeper. The word still carries the old sense of a stranger being taken in and bound by obligations to the household that receives them.