A word for “assembly, crowd” in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s with a reduced form hos, host- typically used when inflected (PE21/20, 27). It is probably derived from the root ᴹ√KHOTH “gather” (Ety/KHOTH); compare later N./S. hoth “crowd, host, horde”.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. horma “horde, host” and ᴱQ. hostar {“town” >>} “tribe” under the early root ᴱ√HOSO [XOÞ-] (QL/41). In the Official Name List for the Lost Tales from this same period, hosta/hos- was given as the equivalent of G. hoth “folk” (PE13/102).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would stick to the longer form hosto “assembly, crowd”, since the reduced forms from DN are rare in Tolkien’s later writings.
A noun for a “large number” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KHOTH “gather” (Ety/KHOTH).