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START / NODE 252Present-Day English14th century–today
hostel
A lodging place, especially an inexpensive dormitory-style accommodation, continuing the older hospitality branch shared with hospital and hotel.
“Hostel is not a clipped modern hotel. It is the older-looking doublet, and hospital and hotel are its historical siblings.”OPEN COMPLETE WORD DOSSIER ↗
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01
PARENT ROUTES1 REVIEWED RELATIONSHIP
Present-Day Englishhostel
an inn or inexpensive lodging facility
↑GO DEEPER
Middle English · Middle English, 14th–15th centurieshostellodging, accommodation, inn, or dwelling place
- SOUND CHANGE
- Modern hostel continues the Middle English form, including its revived use after a period of reduced currency.
- SEMANTIC CHANGE
- A general inn or lodging word specializes toward inexpensive, communal, youth, and institutional accommodation.
- SCHOLAR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- CONFIDENCE
- established — The dictionary and family history support the medieval word and modern lodging senses.
- CHRONOLOGY
- Medieval English origin with later revival and specialization.
2 CITATIONSHad a Long Day of Travel? Check Into a HospitalParagraphs on hostel history and revival Hostel — Definition and Word HistoryDefinitions; Word History: Etymology and First Known Use AUDIT CANONICAL EDGE 246 ↗
Describes medieval use, later reduced currency, nineteenth-century revival, and modern specialization.
ORIGINAL ↗Documents the inn and inexpensive-lodging senses and the medieval English record.
ORIGINAL ↗THE ASTERISK IS A PROMISE
RECONSTRUCTION IS
NOT INSCRIPTION.
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