Abstract

The following paper is intended to propose a new morphological analysis of the PIE name for ‘guest’. This word has been widely assumed to be linked to the PIE root *ghes ‘eat’, without explaining the oddity of this apparent o-grade agent-noun * ghós-ti- m. ‘table companion’. So far, no conclusive evidence can be found for a word built on the same pattern. Furthermore, it may seem quite difficult to give an account for the Lat. hospes m. meaning both ‘guest’ and ‘host’, like the French word hôte. We argue here that this PIE *ghós-ti- is a back-formation made on an old collective stem *ghós-t-ō̯i f. ‘table, group of table companions’. This very form *ghós-t-ō̯i would eventually reflect an acrostatic stem *ghós-t- f. ‘common meal’