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It was always "an hotel" when I was at school. That was standard British English at least up until the 1970s/80s, no doubt derived from the fact that "hotel" is
by FearNotDaniel 3y ago
It was always "an hotel" when I was at school. That was standard British English at least up until the 1970s/80s, no doubt derived from the fact that "hotel" is/was a loanword from French, where the "h" remains silent. Nowadays it's a somewhat archaic form that only posh older people would say, but it's certainly not incorrect.
- smegsicle 3y agowhats a good british english dictionary?
- defrost 3y agoThe _full_ Oxford English Dictionary (aka 'OED') - multiple volumes with detailed entries of each word. Eg: the third entry for 'Hotel' (n) 3.3 A house for the entertainment of strangers and travellers, an inn; esp. one that is, or claims to be, of a superior kind. 1765 Smollett Trav. xxxix. (1766) II. 235 The expence of living at an hotel is enormous. 1775 Ash, Hostel, an inn, an hotel. 1776 R. King in Life & Corr. (1894) I. 20 By a Gentlemen who lately came out of Boston I was informed that they have two bake houses constantly employed in baking for their hotels. 1783 Let. in H. Arnot Hist. Edinburgh App. 512 In 1763 there was no such place as an Hotel: the word indeed was not known, or only intelligible to French scholars. 1806–7 J. Beresford Miseries Hum. Life (1826) xiv. i, Groping your way to the inn—(I beg pardon—hotel). 1817 Walker, Hostel, Hotel, a genteel inn: this word is now universally pronounced and written without the s. 1834 Medwin Angler in Wales II. 118, I‥returned slowly‥to my hotel. contains notes on prior printed usages of the word through time.