The story
- Medieval Latin · derived fromhostilārius
- Old French · derived fromhostelier
- Middle French · derived fromhostiler
- Middle English · inherited fromhostiler
- English todayhostler
From Middle English hostiler, from Middle French hostiler, from Old French hostelier, from Medieval Latin hostilārius, hospitālārius, from hospitāle "inn", from hospitālis "hospitable", from hospes "host, guest". Both hostler and its alternative form ostler originally meant simply "innkeeper", and acquired a specific association with horses in the second half of the 14th century. Doublet of hosteler and hotelier.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.