port

English has four main words spelled port: the harbour, from Latin portus, the gate or opening, from Latin porta, the bearing, from Latin portāre “to carry”, and the wine, named after Oporto.^[1][2][3] The three Latin words are related.^[3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /pɔːt/, US /pɔːrt/^[4]

port¹ harbour

Etymology

The harbour is inherited from Middle English port, inherited from Old English port (“harbour, haven; town”),^[3][1][5] and in Middle English it was reinforced, borrowed from Old French port (“harbour, mountain pass”).^[3][1] Both are from Latin portus (“harbour; originally an entrance, a passage”),^[3][1] akin to porta (“gate”),^[3] from Proto-Indo-European *prtu- (“a going, a passage”), a suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).^[3] It is related to ford.^[1][2] The left side of a ship is probably from the same word, as the side that faced the harbour when the ship was docked,^[3][1][2] or from the porthole sense.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A harbour: before 899, in Alfred's translation of Orosius,^[1] and in the OED from about 893.^[6] A town with a harbour is from before 900.^[6]

Semantic evolution

A figurative place of refuge is from the early 15th century,^[3] and any port in a storm from 1749.^[3][6] A port of entry is from 1840, and a port of call from 1810 in Etymonline^[3] or 1884 in the OED.^[6] The left side of a ship, looking forward, is from the 1540s,^[3] about 1544 in Merriam-Webster.^[5] On old ships the steering oar was on the right side, so they tied up on the other;^[3] the loading hatch was on this side, turned towards the quay.^[7] It replaced larboard, which was too easily confused with starboard when shouted in a gale;^[7] the change was made official by Admiralty order in 1844 and by a United States Navy Department notice in 1846.^[3] Barnhart's first example of the left side is in Manwayring's Seaman's Dictionary (1625–44).^[1] The adjective is from 1857.^[3]

Timeline

• before 899 – a harbour.^[1]
• before 900 – a town with a harbour.^[6]
• early 15th century – a refuge.^[3]
• 1540s – the left side of a ship.^[3]
• 1749 – any port in a storm.^[3][6]
• 1810 – port of call.^[3]
• 1844 – replaces larboard in the Royal Navy.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A place on the coast or a river where ships load and unload; a harbour.
2. A town or city with such a harbour.
3. A port of entry.
4. A place of refuge.
5. The left-hand side of a ship or aircraft, facing forward; larboard.

Adjective

1. On the left side of a ship or aircraft.

Verb

1. To turn a ship to the left.

Word family

• airport
• seaport
• passport
• heliport

port² opening

Etymology

The opening is inherited from Middle English porte (“gate”),^[3][1][5] borrowed from Old French porte (“gate, entrance”),^[3][1] from Latin porta (“city gate, door, passage”),^[3][1] akin to portus (“harbour”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).^[3] Old English also had an occasional port in this sense, from Latin, but the Middle English word seems to be a new borrowing through French.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A gate, the gate of a town or fortress: about 1300,^[3][1] with the surname Port from 1243.^[1] The gate of a city or walled town is from the 13th century in Hoad.^[2]

Semantic evolution

An opening in the side of a ship, the porthole, is from the mid-14th century;^[3][2] in old warships it was the opening through which the cannon were pointed.^[3] The medical sense, a place where something enters the body, is by 1908, probably short for portal.^[3] In electronics a pair of terminals where a signal enters or leaves a device is from 1953, and in computing a place where signals enter or leave a system by 1979.^[3] The verb, to move a program to another computer system, is from 1984, perhaps from the hardware sense, influenced by portable.^[5]

Timeline

• 1243 – the surname Port.^[1]
• c. 1300 – a gate.^[3][1]
• mid-14th century – a porthole.^[3]
• 1908 – in medicine.^[3]
• 1953 – in electronics.^[3]
• 1979 – in computing.^[3]
• 1984 – verb, to port software.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A porthole, or its cover.
2. An opening for the passage of steam or a fluid, as in a valve.
3. An opening in a fortification or armoured vehicle for firing through.
4. (computing) A socket or interface for connecting a device.
5. (chiefly Scottish) A gate or portal, as of a town.

Verb

1. (computing) To adapt a program to run on a different system.

Word family

• porthole

port³ bearing

Etymology

The bearing is inherited from Middle English pourt,^[1] borrowed from Old French port (“carriage, demeanour”),^[3][1] from porter (“to carry”),^[3][1] from Latin portāre (“to carry, bear”),^[3][1] from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).^[3][1] The verb, “to carry”, is borrowed from French porter, from the same Latin verb,^[3][1] which is also the source of deport, export, import, report and support.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bearing, carriage, mien: about 1300 in Etymonline,^[3] probably before 1300 in Guy of Warwick according to Barnhart.^[1]

Semantic evolution

External appearance is from about 1400, and the now archaic “state, style of living” from the 1520s.^[3][2] The verb, “to carry, bring”, is from the 1560s,^[3][1] and the military sense, to carry a rifle diagonally across the body, from the 1620s.^[3] portly, once “of dignified bearing”, is from the 16th century.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1300 – bearing, demeanour.^[3][1]
• c. 1400 – appearance.^[3]
• 1520s – style of living.^[3]
• 1560s – verb, to carry.^[3][1]
• 1620s – to carry a rifle.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The way a person carries himself or herself; bearing.
2. The position of a weapon carried diagonally across the body.

Verb

1. To carry a rifle or sword diagonally across the body, the muzzle or blade near the left shoulder.

Word family

• portly

port⁴ wine

Etymology

The wine is a shortening of Oporto, Portuguese O Porto “the port, the harbour”, the city in northwestern Portugal from which it was first shipped to England.^[3][1][5] The name of the city goes back to Latin portus, the source of port¹.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A sweet dark-red wine: 1691 in Barnhart and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate,^[1][8] the 1690s in Etymonline;^[3] the Unabridged dates it to about 1626.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Port became the national drink in England after the Methuen Treaty of 1703, which let in Portuguese wines at a third less duty than French ones.^[3]

Timeline

• 1691 – port wine.^[1]
• 1703 – the Methuen Treaty.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A rich, sweet fortified wine from the valley of the Douro in Portugal, or a similar wine made elsewhere.

Related words

• portal
• porter
• porch
• portable
• portfolio
• ford
• fare
• larboard
• starboard

Usage notes

In Scotland port is also a tune on the bagpipe, from Scottish Gaelic.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster