porter

French has the verb porter “to carry, bear, wear”, from Latin portare, and a noun porter, a dark beer, borrowed from English.^[1][2][3]

porter¹ to carry

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɔʁ.te/^[3]

Forms

porter^[3]

Etymology

“To carry” is inherited from Old French porter, inherited from Latin portō (“to carry, convey; to bring into port”),^[4][5][2][6] related to Latin porta (“gate”) and Latin portus (“harbour”) (see porte and port).^[5] Rey explains that “portare”, at first implying movement, became a synonym of “ferre” and “gerere”, which it gradually replaced as more concrete and more regular; in Church Latin it also meant “to endure” and “to bear within”.^[5][2] The Petit Robert links it to an Indo-European root “*per-” “to cross”.^[7][3]

Cognate with Italian portare, Old Occitan portar, Catalan portar, Spanish portar and Romanian purta.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Passion of Clermont (late 10th century) has si portet lui, of a mother carrying her child: to be pregnant with;^[4][5] the same text uses it for bringing precious ointments.^[4]

Semantic evolution

By about 1050 (Saint Alexis) it meant to hold up something heavy and to have on one's body (helme e brunie a porter); the Chanson de Roland has porter corone “to be king”.^[4][5] It also meant “to produce” (fruit, Wace, about 1145), “to endure” (about 1140) and “to contain” of a writing (1219).^[4] Many phrases followed: porter témoignage (1174–1177), porter le nom (1174–1176), porter le deuil (about 1500), porter dans son cœur (1505), porter un coup (1540), porter atteinte (1604), porter un jugement (Bossuet, 1666) and porter la santé “to drink to” (Molière, 1665).^[4][5]

The reflexive se porter bien, mal expresses health (se porter comme le Pont-Neuf, 1766), and intransitive porter means to reach, carry (sa voix porte) and porter sur “to concern”.^[9][3][10] In southern regional French porter is used where standard French has apporter.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 10th century – “To be pregnant with”, in the Clermont Passion.^[4]
• c. 1050 – “To hold up; to wear”, in Saint Alexis.^[4]
• c. 1100 – Porter corone in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• c. 1145 – “To bear (fruit)”, in Wace.^[4]
• 1505 – Porter dans son cœur.^[4]
• 1585 – Porter les cornes.^[4]
• 1604 – Porter atteinte.^[4]
• 1665 – Je te la porte (a toast), in Molière.^[4]
• 1812 – Portez les armes !.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry, bear: porter une valise, porter un enfant dans ses bras.^[7][3]
2. To wear: porter des lunettes, porter la barbe.^[3][4]
3. To take, bring (somewhere): porter une lettre à la poste.^[4][10]
4. To bear (a name, a title, a mark): porter le nom de son père.^[4][7]
5. To bear, produce: porter ses fruits; to be pregnant with.^[4][3]
6. With nouns: porter plainte, porter secours, porter un jugement, porter atteinte à.^[3][4]
7. (intransitive) To carry, reach: une voix qui porte, porter sur: to concern, be about.^[3][10]
8. (reflexive) Se porter: to be (in health): se porter bien, se porter candidat.^[3][9]

Word family

• portable
• portatif
• portée
• porteur
• emporter
• reporter
• porte-bonheur
• porte-parole
• portefeuille

porter² porter (beer)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɔʁ.tɛʁ/^[3]

Forms

porter m (plural porters)^[3]

Etymology

The beer is borrowed from English porter, short for porter's ale“, probably because this strong beer was drunk by porters;^{[2][1][7][11]} English ”porter“ “carrier” is itself from Old French ”porteor“, a derivative of ”porter “to carry”.^[2][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1726, in a translation from English.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

It has always named a dark, rather bitter English beer, Nerval mentions du madère, du porter et de l'ale.^[7][13]

Timeline

• 1726 – Porter in a translation from English.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Porter, a dark English beer.^[7][3]

Word family

• port
• portable
• portage
• portant
• portatif
• portée
• portière
• emporter
• reporter
• porte-bonheur
• porte-cigares
• porte-cigarettes
• porte-clefs
• porte-crayon
• porte-croix

Related words

• apporter
• colporter
• comporter
• déporter
• radioreporter
• rapporter
• réimporter
• remporter
• supporter
• téléporter
• porte
• Latin portō

References

1. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 202b
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 97a
12. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette