Etymology and origin of the Latin word porus
porus1 tufa
- Confidence
- Established
- Formation
- Borrowing
- First attested
- 23/24–79 AD, Pliny the Elder
- Borrowed from
- Ancient Greek πῶρος
- Ultimate origin
- Ancient Greek πῶρος
Pronunciation
Forms
pōrus m (genitive pōrī); second declension[1]
Etymology
The stone is borrowed from Ancient Greek πῶρος (pôros, “tufa”).[2][3][4][1] Köbler, after Frisk, gives the Greek word no further etymology.[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found in Pliny the Elder, as the name of a stone like Parian marble in whiteness and hardness but lighter, probably tufa.[2][6][5]
Semantic evolution
Pliny also mentions a powder made from this stone for polishing,[6] and Isidore of Seville took his description from Pliny.[6] The TLL notes that scholars disagree on which stone Pliny meant.[6] In the medical writers Cassius Felix and the Latin Oribasius, following Greek usage, the plural porī are the chalky nodes on the joints of people with gout and arthritis.[6]
Timeline
- 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names the stone.[2][5]
- 447 AD – Cassius Felix uses it for nodes on arthritic joints.[6][5]
- c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville repeats Pliny's description.[6][5]
Meanings
Noun
porus2 pore
Pronunciation
Forms
porus m (genitive porī); second declension[1]
Etymology
The pore is borrowed from Ancient Greek πόρος (póros, “passage, way”).[3][4][1][7] The Greek word goes back to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to lead, pass over”).[7][5][8]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found in Ambrose's Hexaemeron, meaning a passage or channel in a living body.[3][4][5]
Semantic evolution
Lewis and Short also cite pori meatus in Pliny the Elder, where other manuscripts read permeatus.[3] Caelius Aurelianus uses it as a medical term for a duct,[9] and Isidore of Seville for the air passages.[3][10] It passed through Late Latin into Italian poro,[9] and English took pore in the late 14th century from Old French and directly from Latin.[7]
Timeline
- c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of the passages of the body.[3][5]
- 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it as a medical term.[9][5]
- c. 560–636 AD – Isidore of Seville uses it for the air passages.[3][5]
- late 14th century – English borrows it as pore.[7]
Meanings
Noun
Usage notes
A third word with this spelling is Pōrus, the name of an Indian king, from Greek Πῶρος;[3][10][5] Curtius tells of his defeat by Alexander the Great.[3][10][5]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
- ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
- ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Porus.” Etymologically, 25 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/porus. Accessed 25 Oct. 2026.
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