port French · revision 16965

+ {{homograph|1|harbour}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=ine-pro *per-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɔʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''port''' ''m'' (plural ports)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The word for a harbour is [[bor|la|portus|t=opening, passage; harbour; refuge]], an early borrowing (about 1050);^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|9, 227a) Wiktionary treats it as inherited.^(Wiktionary) The first sense of the Latin word, “passage”, survives in [[pt|porto]] “mountain pass” and, through Old Occitan, in the name Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, at the foot of a pass road.^(DHLF 1992)^(REW 1935) Latin divided its senses with [[m|la|porta|t=gate]], the noun for a harbour coming to mean the entrance to a shelter for ships and then the shelter itself.^(DHLF 1992) It goes back through [[itc-pro|*portus]] to [[ine-pro|*pértus|t=crossing]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*per-|t=to cross]],^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992) which Rey also finds in [[sa|पिपर्ति|tr=píparti|t=he brings across]] and [[grc|πείρω|tr=peírō|t=to pierce through]], and in the Latin family of [[porte]] and [[porter]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|porto]], [[pro|port]], [[es|puerto]] and [[pt|porto]].^(REW 1935)^(Littré 1873)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The geographical sense “pass in the Pyrenees” comes from [[m|pro|port]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (about 1050) uses it for an inlet of the sea giving shelter to ships.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By metonymy it named a town built by a harbour (the ''Chanson de Roland'', about 1100: ''Port de Guitsand''), and ''port de mer'' is found in 1140.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It has meant a landing place on a river since 1325.^(TLFi) Figuratively it is a haven or refuge: ''port de salut'' (1209); ''estre a mal port'' “to be in a desperate plight” (about 1165) has died out, while ''venir a bon port'' (1306, of a ship), prepared by ''a bon port'' “happily” (about 1280), is still alive.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Arriver à bon port'' figuratively dates from 1627 (Richelieu), and ''faire naufrage au port'' from 1639.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Many compounds name kinds of harbour: ''port artificiel'' (1690), ''port franc'' (1723), ''port de marée'' (1812), ''port d'attache'' “home port” (1866, figuratively 1935) and ''port de plaisance'' (mid-20th century).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Port aérien'' (1949) gave way to [[aéroport]] (1922); [[avant-port]] dates from 1792 and the learned [[portuaire]] from the early 20th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – A harbour, in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – A harbour town, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1140 – ''Port de mer''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1209 – ''Port de salut'', figuratively.^(TLFi)

+ * 1306 – ''Venir a bon port'', in Joinville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1325 – A river landing place.^(TLFi)

+ * 1723 – ''Port franc''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1792 – ''Avant-port''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1866 – ''Port d'attache''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1922 – ''Aéroport''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|port]], [[m|en|harbour]]: ''port maritime, fluvial'', ''port de commerce, de pêche'', ''port de plaisance'', a marina.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A port town.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A haven, refuge: ''port de salut'', ''arriver à bon port'', to arrive safely.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Port d'attache'': a ship's home port; figuratively, one's home base.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(geography)'' A mountain pass in the Pyrenees.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[avant-port]]

+ * [[aéroport]]

+ * [[portuaire]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|carrying}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=c. 1165, Benoît de Sainte-Maure, Roman de Troie|origins=la porto}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɔʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''port''' ''m'' (plural ports)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun of carrying is a deverbal of [[porter]],^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) which continues [[la|portō|t=to carry]], a word of popular Latin where the literary word was [[m|la|ferō]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Roman de Troie'' (about 1165) uses it for a toll or the revenues of a harbour;^(TLFi) about 1180 it meant “supplies”,^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) and in the Middle Ages, until the 16th century, it often meant “help, favour”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In 1468 it was the maximum load a ship can carry, whence ''port en lourd''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Marot uses it in 1530 for wearing something on one's person, and ''port d'armes'', first a sudden armed attack (1532), meant the carrying of arms in Monet (1636) and the soldier's position with his weapon in 1819.^(TLFi) The price paid for carrying something, postage, is in Du Bellay (1560).^(TLFi)

+

+ The sense “natural bearing” is already in the 13th-century ''Isopet de Lyon'', and Molière uses it of an animal (1661).^(TLFi) Furetière records ''port de voix'' in music (1690), and the Trévoux dictionary the habit of a plant (1721).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1165 – A toll, in the ''Roman de Troie''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1180 – “Supplies”.^(TLFi)

+ * 13th century – “Bearing, carriage”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1468 – A ship's load.^(TLFi)

+ * 1530 – Wearing, in Marot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1560 – Carriage, postage, in Du Bellay.^(TLFi)

+ * 1636 – ''Port d'armes'' “carrying of arms”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – ''Port de voix''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1721 – The habit of a plant.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The wearing or carrying of something on one's person: ''le port de l'uniforme'', ''permis de port d'armes'', a firearms licence.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The carrying of a load, ''(nautical)'' ''port en lourd'', [[m|en|deadweight]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # Carriage, [[m|en|postage]]: ''frais de port''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(military)'' ''Port d'armes'': the position of a soldier presenting arms.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # [[m|en|bearing|alt=Bearing]], the way one holds oneself.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(botany)'' The habit, general shape of a plant.^(TLFi)

+ # ''(music)'' ''Port de voix'': a [[m|en|portamento]].^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[porte]]

+ * [[porter]]

+ * [[opportun]]

+ * [[passeport]]

+ * [[la|portus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}