Etymologically
Log in

portus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 15 October 2026 at 20:51. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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