ПОНЯТТЯ “ГІСТЬ” ТА “ГОСТИННІСТЬ”: ІСТОРИКО-ЛІНГВІСТИЧНИЙ АСПЕКТ ВИВЧЕННЯ

Abstract

he author attempts to trace the evolution of the notion ‘hospitality’ and analyze the stages of development of the term ‘guest’ in the Ukrainian language culture on the basis of scholarly and popular scientific publications. 
The hospitality industry as the most important social, economic and cultural category, and as a fundamental component of the tourism industry, plays a significant role in intercultural communication and presents domestic tourism product on the world market. Hospitality is inherent to tourism. It’s a secret element of customer service in tourism and hospitality industry where comfort and needs of a guest are put above everything. But has it always been so? This issue demanded urgent attention from various perspectives, including historical and linguistic ones. 
In order to achieve this goal, the author analyzes scholarly and popular scientific publications, as well as reference and lexicographic sources of tourism industry, which made it possible to establish that the phenomenon of hospitality has been known since ancient times and its evolution took place in the course of civilizational development. Such prototerms as ‘guest’ and ‘hospitality’ have come a long way undergoing significant qualitative changes, and have turned into the most important components of the sociocultural lexicon of modern society. 
Moreover, they have become a part of the basic lexicon of tourism sub-language, have been recorded in special dictionaries and have gained accurate meaning and clear definition. 
The author states that the modern meaning of the terms ‘guest’ and ‘hospitality’ is somewhat different from those in the historical lexicographic sources analyzed. Today, the guest may be the person invited on the tourist trip, and the term hospitality is interpreted as a harmonious combination of the production of tourism services, the comfort of the recreation environment and the friendly behavior of hospitality staff to meet the needs of guests while guaranteeing their safety, physical and psychological comfort.