Lingua Obscura

Welcome to the Obscure Language blog. There are many words in the English language that are overlooked, underused, misused, or just lost. This blog will explore some of the words and phrases that I find interesting. If you’ve got one you’d like to take a look at, please leave a comment.

First up:
Welcome seems a fairly standard word. It comes from Old English wilcuma, exclamation of kindly greeting, from earlier wilcuma (n.) “welcome guest,” lit. “one whose coming is in accord with another’s will,” from willa “pleasure, desire, choice” (see will (v.)) + cuma “guest,” related to cuman (see come). Cf. O.H.G. willicomo, M.Du. wellecome. Meaning “entertainment or public reception as a greeting” is recorded from 1530. You’re welcome as a formulaic response to thank you is attested from 1907. Welcome mat first recorded 1951; welcome wagon is attested from 1961. The verb is O.E. wilcumian.

Old English dialects evolved from the Jutes, Angles, and Saxons when they migrated into what is now Great Britain from Germany, Holland, and Denmark. Not surprisingly their words for welcome are; German – wilkommen, Dutch – welkom, Danish – velkommen.

Trivia: Hospitate is an obscure word that also means welcome; v. – welcome; be guest. hospitation, n. Now you can see where hospitality and hospital come from.

References:

The Online Etymology Dictionary

Writing English

Google Translate

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