this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
29 points (100.0% liked)

Mildly Interesting

17709 readers
499 users here now

This is for strictly mildly interesting material. If it's too interesting, it doesn't belong. If it's not interesting, it doesn't belong.

This is obviously an objective criteria, so the mods are always right. Or maybe mildly right? Ahh.. what do we know?

Just post some stuff and don't spam.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

In Italian “ospite” means both “host” and “guest”
@mildlyinteresting@lemmy.world

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] bokster@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 hour ago

Wait until you hear about "piano".

[–] sping@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 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".

[–] VonReposti@feddit.dk 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] teft@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago

In spanish esposa means both wife and handcuffs.

[–] teft@lemmy.world 1 points 9 hours ago

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

[–] hakase@lemm.ee 4 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 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".

[–] sik0fewl@lemmy.ca 1 points 17 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.