SOURCE 01supportshistorical dictionary
Guest — Word History
Keeps Germanic guest separate from Latin hostis until the reconstructed ancestor.
Germanic *gasti- and cognates- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
PERMANENT DISPUTE RECORD
ALL DISPUTES ↗CLAIM / COUNTERCLAIM / LIMITRECORD 50
DISPUTE
RECORD.
One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.
resolvedestablished
Was guest borrowed from Latin hostis?
No. English guest continues the Germanic branch; Latin hostis is a parallel cognate branch that meets it at *ghos-ti-.
WORD UNDER REVIEWDISPUTE 50
guest
/ɡɛst/ · noun
A person receiving hospitality, inherited through Old English from the Germanic branch of reconstructed *ghos-ti-.
01
DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE
2 SOURCES WITH A STANCE
A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.
SOURCE 02contextscholarly reference
Indo-European Root ghos-ti-
Publishes the shared reconstructed family.
ghos-ti- root- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Calvert Watkins and American Heritage Dictionary Editors
- YEAR
- 2022
- PUBLISHER
- HarperCollins
02 / EDITORIAL STATE
THE CURRENT RECORD IS RESOLVED.
- CONFIDENCE
- established
- STATUS
- resolved
- LEGACY SOURCE SUMMARY
- Merriam-Webster, American Heritage, and the University of Texas lexicon distinguish the Germanic and Latin reflexes.
The graph has no Latin-to-English guest edge and joins the words only at their reconstructed ancestor.