In Danish, "gift" means both "married" and "poison".
this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2025
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In spanish esposa means both wife and handcuffs.
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".
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.
Wait until you hear about "piano".
Reminds me how American English uses the verb "rent" for both sides of the transaction. If someone says "I rent this apartment", you can only tell 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".
Spanish is similar. The word is huesped. There is a word that means host but i never hear it. It is anfitrion.