Etymology Explorer › German

Where does “Gastarbeiter” come from?

Gastarbeiter (German) comes from German gaſt, from Middle High German gast, from Old High German gaſt, from Proto-West Germanic *gasti, from Proto-Germanic gastiz, from Proto-Indo-European gʰóstis, from Proto-Indo-European -tis — Derives abstract/action nouns from verb roots.

Gastarbeiter (German): guest worker, migrant worker, foreign worker

Definitions

  1. guest worker, migrant worker, foreign worker

Ancestry of “Gastarbeiter”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Germangaſt—
2Middle High Germangast—
3Old High Germangaſt—
4Proto-West Germanic*gasti—
5Proto-Germanicgastizstranger, guest
6Proto-Indo-Europeangʰóstisstranger, host
7Proto-Indo-European-tisDerives abstract/action nouns from verb roots

Words derived from “Gastarbeiter”

  • гастарбайтер
  • гастарбајтер
  • gastarbajter
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tis →