porteiro

Forms

porteiro m (plural porteiros, feminine porteira, feminine plural porteiras)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin portārius (“doorkeeper”), written Old Galician-Portuguese porteyro and Old Galician-Portuguese porteiro in the oldest texts.^[2][3][1] The Late Latin word is formed from porta (“gate, door”) with the suffix -ārius, whose popular outcome is -eiro.^[1][4] Aurélio, the Academia's dictionary, Michaelis and Silva Bastos analyse the word instead as a Portuguese formation from the noun for “door” with the same suffix, and Wiktionary notes that this is its surface analysis.^{[5][6][7][8][1]}

Houaiss gives a separate article to the old sense “collector of royal dues”, first recorded in 1446 in the Ordenações Afonsinas, and derives that word from porte with the same suffix, although he notes that the dates do not support the derivation: his first record of that noun is from 1595.^[2][9] Aurélio also has two articles, the second from the same noun.^[5] Against that view, a Galician-Portuguese cantiga of Gonçal' Eanes do Vinhal already uses the word for the collectors of a toll, which Universo Cantigas and the DDGM take as a sense of the same word as the doorkeeper.^[10][11]

The same Latin word is Galician porteiro, Spanish portero, Catalan porter, Occitan portièr, French portier and Romanian portar.^[4][12][1] De Vaan takes the Latin noun to be the feminine of a past participle meaning “passed, crossed”, and Wiktionary traces it through *portā to Proto-Indo-European *per- (“to pass through”).^[13][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is the plural porteyros in a text of 1209 in the Leges collection, and porteiro follows in 1265.^[2] In the cantigas the porteiros are the guards of a palace's doors: in a cantiga d'escarnho of Alfonso X the poet sees someone thrown out to the porteiros from among the squires, and the Cantigas de Santa Maria have à porta do templo disseron-mi os porteiros “at the door of the temple the doorkeepers told me”.^[10][11] A cantiga of Gonçal' Eanes do Vinhal uses the word for the collectors of the toll paid at a lord's gates.^[10][11]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau's dictionary describes the porteiro mór of the palace, who kept the doors and had authority over sixteen porteiros da cana, and the porteiros of the university, the Chancery and every tribunal, some of whom could summon, seize goods and carry out executions; he also records the porteiro who cried and knocked down goods at auction.^[14] Folqman (1755) glosses that crier with Latin praeco.^[15] Vieira (1871–1874) adds the phrase o porteiro divino for the Pope.^[16] The porteiro dos auditórios, the court officer who announced the opening and close of hearings and posted notices, survives in the modern dictionaries as a historical term.^[2][5]

Today the word means above all the doorman or concierge of a building, who controls who comes in and takes in the post.^[2][6] Houaiss also records porteiro eletrônico, the entry phone through which a caller speaks to a resident, who can open the door from inside.^[2]

Timeline

• 1209 – the plural porteyros in a text of the Leges collection.^[2]
• 1265 – first record of the spelling porteiro.^[2]
• 1446 – the Ordenações Afonsinas use the word for a collector of royal dues.^[2]
• 1570 – porteiro in a private letter written by this year.^[17]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses Porteiro with Latin janitor and ostiarius.^[18]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes the porteiros of the palace, the university and the tribunals.^[14]
• 1755 – Folqman records the porteiro who cries goods at auction.^[15]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira lists o porteiro divino, the Pope.^[16]

Meanings

Noun

1. A doorkeeper or gatekeeper: someone who opens and closes the door of a house, palace or institution for those who come and go.^[2][5][1]
2. A doorman or concierge: the person at the entrance of a building who controls who goes in, gives information and receives the post.^[2][6][19]
3. (historical, law) porteiro dos auditórios: a court officer who announced the opening and close of hearings and posted public notices.^[2][5]
4. A crier at judicial auctions.^[20][19]
5. (obsolete) A collector of royal dues.^[2][5][20]
6. porteiro eletrônico: an entry phone with a remote door release.^[2]

Related words

• porta
• portaria
• Galician porteiro
• Spanish portero

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. porteiro
3. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. porta
4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6673
5. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. porteiro
6. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. porteiro
7. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. porteiro
8. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. porteiro
9. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. porte
10. ^ a b c Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. porteiro
11. ^ a b c Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. porteiro
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. portarius
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
14. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. porteiro
15. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. porteiro
16. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 4, 856
17. ^ CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt
18. ^ Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. porteiro
19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7360
20. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. porteiro