porta

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɔr.ta]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɔr.ta]^[1]

Forms

porta f (genitive portae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *portā- (“gate, door”), probably the feminine of a PIE participle Proto-Indo-European *pr-to- (“passed, crossed”).^[2] The verb portāre and portus “harbour” come from the same root, Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to bring through”).^[2][3]

Cognate with Oscan púrtam (“gate”), and through portus with Avestan pərətu- (“crossing, bridge”) and Old English ford.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards.^[2] In Plautus a house is “the seventh from the gate”.^[3] Köbler's first source is Ennius (204–169 BC).^[4]

Semantic evolution

It was the gate of a city or a camp, then any entrance or outlet, as the gap through which the winds rush out in Virgil.^[3] Figuratively it meant a way or means.^[1]

Isidore explained it as the place through which things are brought in and out.^[5] In medieval monasteries it was the guest service, and also a mill-race.^[6] Romance languages kept it, as Italian porta and Spanish puerta.^[1] English portal comes from its Medieval Latin derivative portāle.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a city gate.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of an opening for the winds.^[3][4]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains its name.^[5][4]
• late 14th century – English portal comes from Medieval Latin portāle.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gate, especially of a city or camp.^[3][1]
2. An entrance, opening, outlet.^[3][1]
3. A way, means.^[1]
4. (Medieval Latin) The guest service of a monastery; a mill-race.^[6]

Word family

• portārius
• portella
• porticula
• porticus
• portula
• portus
• portō
• portōrium

Related words

• English portal
• English port

Usage notes

Georges says porta is a gate on land, as opposed to portus, a harbour.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn