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port

Etymology and origin of the French word port

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inherited borrowed derived
Latin portus
French port

port1 harbour

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis
Borrowed from
Latin portus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*per-)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɔʁ/[1]

Forms

port m (plural ports)[1]

Etymology

The word for a harbour is borrowed from Latin portus (“opening, passage; harbour; refuge”), an early borrowing (about 1050);[2][3][4] Wiktionary treats it as inherited.[1] The first sense of the Latin word, “passage”, survives in Portuguese porto “mountain pass” and, through Old Occitan, in the name Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, at the foot of a pass road.[3][5] Latin divided its senses with porta (“gate”), the noun for a harbour coming to mean the entrance to a shelter for ships and then the shelter itself.[3] It goes back through Proto-Italic *portus to Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”), from the root *per- (“to cross”),[1][3] which Rey also finds in Sanskrit पिपर्ति (píparti, “he brings across”) and Ancient Greek πείρω (peírō, “to pierce through”), and in the Latin family of porte and porter.[3]

Cognate with Italian porto, Old Occitan port, Spanish puerto and Portuguese porto.[5][6][7] The geographical sense “pass in the Pyrenees” comes from port.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) uses it for an inlet of the sea giving shelter to ships.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it named a town built by a harbour (the Chanson de Roland, about 1100: Port de Guitsand), and port de mer is found in 1140.[2][3] It has meant a landing place on a river since 1325.[2] Figuratively it is a haven or refuge: port de salut (1209); estre a mal port “to be in a desperate plight” (about 1165) has died out, while venir a bon port (1306, of a ship), prepared by a bon port “happily” (about 1280), is still alive.[2][3] Arriver à bon port figuratively dates from 1627 (Richelieu), and faire naufrage au port from 1639.[8][3]

Many compounds name kinds of harbour: port artificiel (1690), port franc (1723), port de marée (1812), port d'attache “home port” (1866, figuratively 1935) and port de plaisance (mid-20th century).[2][3][8] Port aérien (1949) gave way to aéroport (1922); avant-port dates from 1792 and the learned portuaire from the early 20th century.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – A harbour, in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1100 – A harbour town, in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • 1140 – Port de mer.[2]
  • 1209 – Port de salut, figuratively.[2]
  • 1306 – Venir a bon port, in Joinville.[2]
  • 1325 – A river landing place.[2]
  • 1723 – Port franc.[2]
  • 1792 – Avant-port.[3][7]
  • 1866 – Port d'attache.[3]
  • 1922 – Aéroport.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A port, harbour: port maritime, fluvial, port de commerce, de pêche, port de plaisance, a marina.[9][1]
  2. A port town.[1][2]
  3. (figurative) A haven, refuge: port de salut, arriver à bon port, to arrive safely.[1][3]
  4. Port d'attache: a ship's home port; figuratively, one's home base.[3][1]
  5. (geography) A mountain pass in the Pyrenees.[7]

Word family

  • avant-port
  • aéroport
  • portuaire

port2 carrying

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
c. 1165, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Roman de Troie
Ultimate origin
Latin (porto)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pɔʁ/[1]

Forms

port m (plural ports)[1]

Etymology

The noun of carrying is a deverbal of porter,[2][10][9] which continues Latin portō (“to carry”), a word of popular Latin where the literary word was ferō.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Roman de Troie (about 1165) uses it for a toll or the revenues of a harbour;[2] about 1180 it meant “supplies”,[2][10] and in the Middle Ages, until the 16th century, it often meant “help, favour”.[7][9]

Semantic evolution

In 1468 it was the maximum load a ship can carry, whence port en lourd.[2][9] Marot uses it in 1530 for wearing something on one's person, and port d'armes, first a sudden armed attack (1532), meant the carrying of arms in Monet (1636) and the soldier's position with his weapon in 1819.[2] The price paid for carrying something, postage, is in Du Bellay (1560).[2]

The sense “natural bearing” is already in the 13th-century Isopet de Lyon, and Molière uses it of an animal (1661).[2] Furetière records port de voix in music (1690), and the Trévoux dictionary the habit of a plant (1721).[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1165 – A toll, in the Roman de Troie.[2]
  • c. 1180 – “Supplies”.[2]
  • 13th century – “Bearing, carriage”.[2]
  • 1468 – A ship's load.[2]
  • 1530 – Wearing, in Marot.[2]
  • 1560 – Carriage, postage, in Du Bellay.[2]
  • 1636 – Port d'armes “carrying of arms”.[2]
  • 1690 – Port de voix.[2]
  • 1721 – The habit of a plant.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The wearing or carrying of something on one's person: le port de l'uniforme, permis de port d'armes, a firearms licence.[9][1]
  2. The carrying of a load, (nautical) port en lourd, deadweight.[9][2]
  3. Carriage, postage: frais de port.[1][2]
  4. (military) Port d'armes: the position of a soldier presenting arms.[9][2]
  5. Bearing, the way one holds oneself.[1][2]
  6. (botany) The habit, general shape of a plant.[2]
  7. (music) Port de voix: a portamento.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 227a
  5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Port.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/port. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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