>> ENTRY: ghos-ti-
>> DEFINITION: Stranger, guest, host; properly "someone with whom one
>> has reciprocal duties of hospitality." 1. Basic form *ghos-ti-. a.
>> (i) guest, from Old Norse gestr, guest; (ii) Gastarbeiter, from Old
>> High German gast, guest. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic *gastiz; b.
>> host2, hostile, from Latin hostis, enemy (< "stranger"). 2. Compound
>> *ghos-pot-, *ghos-po(d)-, "guest-master," one who symbolizes the
>> relationship of reciprocal obligation (*pot-, master; see poti-).
>> hospice, hospitable, hospital, hospitality, host1, hostage, hostel,
>> hostler, from Latin hospes (stem hospit-), host, guest, stranger. 3.
>> Suffixed zero-grade form *ghs-en-wo-. xenia, xeno-, xenon; axenic,
>> euxenite, pyroxene, from Greek xenos, guest, host, stranger. (Pokorny
>> ghosti-s 453.)
>
> I was wondering if "ghost" wasn't in the mix somewhere. I checked the same
> dictionary (American Heritage Collegiate at
http://www.bartleby.com) and
> all it gave me was Middle English gost from Old English gâst "breath,
> spirit".
> Could "breath, spirit" be a drift in meaning from "guest", with links to
> the Latin words for "enemy/stranger"?
>
>~Danny~