Welcome
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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 Luciferous Logolepsy
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Interesting and informative already.. Looking forward to learning many more useful and obscure words
Well, this is fun! There are plenty of weird words in the English language, so you have your work cut out for you. Best of luck tracking all this down – I’m rooting for ya!