PERMANENT SOURCE RECORD
ALL SOURCES ↗BIBLIOGRAPHIC IDENTITYmw-hostel
SOURCE
RECORD.
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historical dictionarymw-hostel
Hostel — Definition and Word History
- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Merriam-Webster
- DOI
- Not recorded
- SOURCE TYPE
- historical dictionary
- EXTERNAL RECORD
- OPEN ORIGINAL ↗
011
CONTRARIAN TRUTH CLAIMS
RANKED REVEALS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
RANK 173GRADE Asupports
Hostel is older than the modern hotel story.
Hostel, hotel, and hospital are doublets from Latin guest lodging. Hostel preserves the older-looking French form; it is not a recent clipping of hotel.
*ghos-ti-
*ghos-ti- → *ghos-pot- → hospes (hospit-) → hospitālis → hospitāle → ostel / hostel → hostel → hostel
Word History: Etymology and First Known UseDocuments medieval hostel from Anglo-French and Latin hospitāle.
hostel dossier ↗truth record ↗84UNVEILING
021
SCHOLARLY DISAGREEMENT
DISPUTE POSITIONS THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
resolvedsupportsestablished
Is hostel a shortened modern form of hotel?
No. Hostel is the historically older-looking English doublet. Both words descend by different French histories from Latin hospitāle.
Word History: Etymology and First Known UseDocuments fourteenth-century hostel from Anglo-French and Latin hospitāle.
033
CANONICAL RELATIONSHIP CLAIMS
EDGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
EDGE 246supportsestablished
hostel → hostel
Present-Day English → Middle English · historical continuation
- SOUND
- Modern hostel continues the Middle English form, including its revived use after a period of reduced currency.
- MEANING
- A general inn or lodging word specializes toward inexpensive, communal, youth, and institutional accommodation.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
Definitions; Word History: Etymology and First Known UseDocuments the inn and inexpensive-lodging senses and the medieval English record.
EDGE 247supportsestablished
hostel → ostel / hostel
Middle English → Anglo-French · borrowing
- SOUND
- Middle English hostel borrows Anglo-French ostel or hostel with close preservation of the form.
- MEANING
- The lodging meaning remains stable.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
Word History: EtymologyStates that Middle English borrowed Anglo-French ostel and hostel.
EDGE 248supportsestablished
ostel / hostel → hospitāle
Anglo-French → Medieval Latin · romance development
- SOUND
- Anglo-French ostel or hostel continues Latin hospitāle with loss and reduction around the initial consonant cluster.
- MEANING
- Guest accommodation remains the core meaning.
- SCHOLAR / EDITOR
- Merriam-Webster Editors
Word History: EtymologyTraces the Anglo-French lodging word to Latin hospitāle.
041
LEXICAL ATTESTATIONS
WITNESSES REPORTED BY THIS SOURCE
hostelSOURCE-REPORTED
hostel
Merriam-Webster first-known-use record for hostel
OPEN WITNESS 55 ↗050
COMPARATIVE EVIDENCE
COGNATES, DESCENDANTS, AND RELATIVES
No comparative-relative record currently cites this source.
063
GEOGRAPHIC AND TEMPORAL CLAIMS
JOURNEY STAGES THAT CITE THIS SOURCE
stage 1supports
Latin and Gallo-Romance hospitality network
Traces Anglo-French ostel or hostel to Latin hospitāle.
Word History: Etymology · broadstage 2supports
England
Reports the fourteenth-century English lodging word.
First Known Use and Etymology · regionalstage 4supports
Global travel network
Defines modern inexpensive and institutional lodging senses.
Current definitions · global070
NON-GENEALOGICAL CONNECTIONS
HISTORICAL CONTEXT, KEPT SEPARATE
No non-genealogical context link currently cites this source.
081
WORD-FAMILY REUSE
DOSSIERS THAT DEPEND ON THIS SOURCE
3 entry-scoped citations map reviewed dossier paths onto the canonical claims above.