hostage: [13] Despite its similarity, hostage is not related to any of the English words host. It comes via Old French hostage from *obsidāticum, a Vulgar Latin derivative of late Latin obsidātus ‘condition of being held as a security for the fulfilment of an undertaking’. This is turn was based on Latin obses ‘hostage’, a compound noun formed from the prefix ob- ‘before’ and the base of sedēre ‘sit’ (English obsess [16] is made up of virtually the same elements). The use of hostage for the ‘person held’ was established before English took it over. => obsess
hostage (n.)
late 13c., from Old French hostage "person given as security or hostage" (12c., Modern French ?tage), either from hoste "guest" (see host (n.1)) via notion of "a lodger held by a landlord as security," or from Late Latin obsidanus "condition of being held as security," from obses "hostage," from ob- "before" + base of sedere "to sit" [OED]. Modern political/terrorism sense is from 1970.
雙語(yǔ)例句
1. The class was held hostage by a hooded gunman.
全班同學(xué)被一個(gè)蒙面的持槍歹徒劫為人質(zhì)。
來(lái)自柯林斯例句
2. The hostage release could clear the decks for war.