portus

Pronunciation

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

Forms

portus m (genitive portūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *portu- (“harbour”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pr-tu- (“crossing, ford”), a u-stem “passage, crossing” from the root Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to cross”), which also gave porta.^[2][1][3]

Cognate with Avestan pərətu- (“crossing, bridge”), Welsh rhyd (“ford”), Old English ford and Old Norse fjǫrðr (“fjord”).^[2][4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Laws of the Twelve Tables use it, probably meaning a door.^[3][5] Naevius prays to the north wind to carry Orestes into the nearby harbour.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its first meaning was an entrance or passage, which survives in angiportus “alley”; the Twelve Tables use it, according to Festus, of a house door.^[6][3] It meant a harbour or port, as Plautus' “our ship sets sail from the harbour” and Cicero's famous port of Caieta.^[3][7]

Figuratively it meant a refuge, a haven from trouble, and it also meant a warehouse.^[3] Isidore says it is a place sheltered from winds, named from carrying goods (deportare).^[8] In medieval Latin it meant a river landing, a ferry and ferry dues.^[9] Romance kept it, as Italian porto and Spanish puerto, and English port “harbour” comes from it through Old English.^[1][10]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.^[3][5]
• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it of a harbour.^[3][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a ship setting sail.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of the famous port of Caieta.^[7][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A harbour, port.^[3][1]
2. A refuge, haven.^[3][1]
3. A warehouse.^[3][1]
4. (Twelve Tables) A door.^[3]
5. (Medieval Latin) A landing stage; a ferry; ferry dues.^[9]

Word family

• portensis
• portuōsus
• Portūnus
• angiportum
• angiportus
• importūnus
• oportūnus
• portitor

Related words

• porta
• English port

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com