Hostage

Police drill with a hostage.

A hostage (Arabic:(رهينة) “mortgage/collateral”) or hostage is a person whose liberty will be forcibly deprived and retained by some captors in order to use this situation to try to force another person, organization or nation to comply with given conditions.

Taking hostages poses a threat to both the hostage and the coerced party. Today, this is considered a crime, and in certain cases even a terrorist act. However, hostage taking has a long military history dating back thousands of years. Masculine gender, colloquially the feminine is admitted.

Etymology

The Spanish word "hostage" derives from Occitan ostatge, from Late Latin obsidaticum (Medieval Latin ostaticum, otagium), the state of being an obses > (plural obsides), "hostage", from Latin obsideō ("I stalk/frequent/block/siege"), but an etymological connection to Latin hostis ("strange," later "enemy") was later assumed. The Spanish word has gradually been replaced by the Arabic hostage (رهينة), mortgage/guarantee.