porto

porto¹ harbour

Etymology tree of porto¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin portus

Italian porto

French port

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɔr.to/^[4]

Forms

porto m (plural porti)^[4] An old plural is pòrtora.^[3]

Etymology

The harbour is inherited from Latin portus (“passage, entrance; harbour”), a word of Indo-European origin related to Latin porta (“gate”).^[2][5][1][6] The sense “passage” survives in Spanish puerto and Portuguese porto “mountain pass”.^[3][7] The word is found in all of Romance except Romanian: French port, Occitan port, Catalan port, Sardinian portu and Friulian puart.^[5][7][3] It was borrowed into Welsh porth and Old English port.^[7][3]

Latin portus comes from Proto-Italic *portus, from Proto-Indo-European *pértus (“crossing”), from the root *per- (“to cross”).^[4] Nocentini lists its exact cognates: Avestan pərətu- (“passage, ford”), Old High German furt (“ford”) (German Furt, English ford), Old Norse fjǫrðr “fjord” and Welsh rhyd (“ford”).^[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT dates the word before 1250, and Nocentini to the first half of the 13th century.^[1][5] DELI's first record is Rinaldo d'Aquino, in the sense “sheltered water where ships can lie safely and load and unload”; in his lament the ships “son giute a porto / e or vogliono collare” (have come into port and now want to hoist sail).^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “final goal, longed-for end” is recorded in Rustico di Filippo, before 1300.^[2] Petrarch called his little room “un porto / a le gravi tempeste mie diurne” (a harbour for the heavy storms of my days), and the Church used the word for God, the Virgin and the saints as a refuge.^[1][6] Giovanni Villani used it for a trading post.^[3] In the Venetian lagoon each of the three openings in the coastal strip is a porto.^[1][9]

The phrase porto di mare “place where people come and go all the time” is probably a calque on Milanese port de mar, which Cherubini recorded in this sense in 1841.^[2] The adjective portuoso came from Latin in the 14th century, and portuale is recorded in 1871.^[2][5] Medieval Latin portulanus (1285) gave portolano, the pilots' book of harbours.^[10] German used Porto as a sailors' word from 1479.^[11]

Timeline

• Before 1250 – GRADIT's date for the first record.^[1]
• 13th century – Rinaldo d'Aquino uses porto “harbour”.^[2]
• Before 1300 – Rustico di Filippo uses it for a final goal.^[2]
• 1285 – Medieval Latin portulanus is recorded.^[10]
• 1323 – Portuoso “having many harbours”.^[5]
• 1479 – German Porto “harbour” is recorded.^[11]
• 1841 – Cherubini records Milanese port de mar in the sense later taken by porto di mare.^[2]
• 1871 – Portuale is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A harbour or port, on a sea, lake or river, where ships can shelter and load and unload: La nave è entrata in porto all'alba.^[1][9][6][4]
2. A port city; the harbour district of a town: Abitano vicino al porto.^[1][6]
3. In the Venetian lagoon, each of the openings through which the sea flows in and out.^[1][9]
4. (figurative) A haven, a place or person that offers peace and safety.^[1][6]
5. andare in porto, condurre in porto: to succeed, to bring to a successful end: L'accordo è andato in porto.^[1][9]
6. porto franco: a free port, porto di mare (figurative), a place where people constantly come and go.^[9][12]

Word family

• portuale
• portuoso
• porticciolo
• avamporto
• interporto
• retroporto

porto² carriage, transport

Etymology tree of porto²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin porto

French porter

English port

Italian portare

Italian porto

From the same root · porto²

Latin apporto ← porto

Latin asporto ← porto

Latin comporto ← porto

Latin supporto ← porto

Latin transporto ← porto

French emporter ← porter

Italian portata ← portare

Italian riportare ← portare

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɔr.to/^[4]

Forms

porto m (plural porti)^[1][9]

Etymology

This noun is formed from the verb portare (“to carry”), as a noun without a suffix; French port has the same formation from 1265.^{[1][9][5][6][13]} The verb is inherited from Latin portō (“to carry”).^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1255–1290 in the phrase porto d'armi, and GRADIT to the first half of the 14th century.^[5][1] In the Leggenda di Lazzaro, Marta e Maddalena the apostles are carried in a single porto to the Virgin's house before her death.^[8]

Semantic evolution

DEI finds the sense “carrying, transport” in Giovanni Maria Cecchi and Filippo Sassetti, and “cost of carriage” in Annibal Caro and Tasso, all in the 16th century;^[13][12] Zingarelli dates the word before 1566.^[13][12] In Cecchi's L'assiuolo a letter from Calicut or Peru would not cost so much postage.^[15] DEI also records the military sense “way of carrying arms” and, in 1871, the bearers of the litter in the Compagnia della Misericordia.^[13] German took the word as a postal term, Porto “postage”, from 1630.^[11][13]

Timeline

• 1255–1290 – Porto d'armi.^[5]
• 16th century – Cecchi and Sassetti use porto “transport”, and Caro and Tasso “cost of carriage”.^[13]
• 1630 – German Porto “postage” is recorded.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (commerce) Carriage, transport of goods, letters or luggage.^[1][9][16]
2. The cost of carriage; postage: franco di porto, carriage paid, porto assegnato, carriage forward.^[1][9][12]
3. porto d'armi: the carrying of a weapon, and the licence for it: Ha chiesto il porto d'armi per la caccia.^[9][12][16]

porto³ port wine

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɔr.to/^[4]

Forms

porto m (invariable)^[9]

Etymology

The wine is named after the Portuguese city it was shipped from, borrowed from Portuguese Porto, also called ⟨Oporto⟩, from ⟨o porto⟩ “the harbour”.^{[2][5][4][13]} French and English also call it ⟨porto⟩, and it is German Portwein.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nocentini dates the word to 1874 and DELI's first record is Cusmano in 1889, for the bright, delicately scented fortified wine of Portugal.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1874 – Nocentini's date for porto “port wine”.^[5]
• 1889 – Cusmano uses the word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. port, the sweet fortified red or white wine of Portugal.^[1][4]