gostava

Gostava is a term used in several South Slavic languages to denote the act of being a guest or the event of hosting guests. In standard Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin, gostava refers to the state or occasion of receiving guests, or more generally to a social visit. The word is formed from the noun gost (guest) with the suffix -ava, a common pattern for forming nouns that express a state or activity.

Etymology and related terms: The root gost meaning guest is widespread across Slavic languages, with cognate forms found in Russian gost’, Polish gość, and others. Gostava shares the broader theme of hospitality with related terms such as gostoprimstvo (hospitality) and poseta (visit). In some contexts, especially in older or regional usage, gostava can be used interchangeably with gostovanje or gostoprimstvo to denote hosting or guest appearances, though gostovanje is more typical for a public or formal guest performance.

Usage: Gostava is more common in dialectal or informal speech; in formal writing, the preferred terms for an event of visiting or hosting are gostovanje or poseta, depending on the context. The word may appear in historical texts and regional expressions and is understood by speakers of related South Slavic languages.

See also: guest, hospitality, gost, gostoprimstvo, gostovanje, poseta.