this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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In Italian “ospite” means both “host” and “guest”
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[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 hours ago

Wait until you hear about "piano".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago

Reminds me how American English uses the verb "rent" for both sides of the transaction. If someone says "I rent this apartment", you can what they mean from context.

In British English, the landlord "lets" an apartment that the tenant "rents", and that are advertised with signs "To let".

[–] [email protected] 5 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

In Danish, "gift" means both "married" and "poison".

[–] [email protected] 4 points 14 hours ago

In spanish esposa means both wife and handcuffs.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Spanish is similar. The word is huesped. There is a word that means host but i never hear it. It is anfitrion.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago) (1 children)

This mirrors its Proto-Indo-European root *ghos- (also the ancestor of both "host" and "guest" through Romance and Germanic respectively), which we think originally meant a reciprocal relationship - "those who were bound by hospitality to each other".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago

In ancient Greek there was Xenia, which is the concept of hospitality and the rules or norms for the hosts and guests. The word Xenia has the same PIE root, as well.