porta Italian · revision 37695

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=first half of the 13th century, Giacomino Pugliese|origins=ine-pro *per-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈpɔr.ta/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''porta''' ''f'' (plural porte)^(Wiktionary)

+ Devoto–Oli and Treccani record an old popular plural ''le pòrti''.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|porta|t=gate, city gate; passage]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word is common to the Romance languages: [[fr|porte]], [[oc|porta]], [[ca|porta]], [[es|puerta]], [[pt|porta]], [[sc|porta]], [[fur|puarte]], [[dlm|puarta]] and [[ro|poartă]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) In Latin it was above all the gate of a town, while the door of a house was [[m|la|forēs]] or [[m|la|ostium]].^(DEI|3028) The Latin noun, with its original sense of passage, took the place of both in the sense of house door, and the second survives only in [[uscio]].^(DEI|3028)

+

+ DELI and Devoto give the original meaning as “passage”.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto 1968|338) Nocentini notes that the noun once shared this sense with [[m|la|portus|t=harbour]], from the same root, before the meanings parted: one became the entrance to a town or house, the other the entrance to a harbour, Italian [[porto]].^(Nocentini 2010) De Vaan takes the noun to be probably the feminine of a past participle [[ine-pro|*pr̥-tó-|t=crossed]], from which [[m|la|portō|t=to carry]] was probably formed as well.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary gives [[ine-pro|*pr̥téh₂]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*per-|t=to pass through, over]].^(Wiktionary) Related words in other languages are [[osc|púrtam|t=gate (accusative)]], [[goh|furt|t=ford]], [[ang|ford]] and [[grc|πόρος|tr=póros|t=means of passage]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ DELI's first record is in Giacomino Pugliese, in the first half of the 13th century, for an opening made in a wall or fence to make a way through.^(DELI 1999) The sense “the leaves of a door” follows in another 13th-century Florentine text.^(DELI 1999) GRADIT and Nocentini date the word to the end of the 13th century.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ DEI lists early figurative and transferred uses: an entrance or means of access (Guicciardini, 16th century), a mountain pass on a frontier, the mouth of a river (Boccaccio), and in the 14th century, in Zucchero Bencivenni, the female sex.^(DEI|3028) The anatomical ''vena porta'' “portal vein”, as DELI quotes from a history of medical language, is a loose translation by Gerard of Cremona of the Latin ''vena portae'' “vein of the gate”: the ancient physicians spoke of the gate of the liver, where the great vessels enter it.^(DELI 1999) In 1829 ''la Sublime Porta'' named the Ottoman court and government, after French ''la Sublime Porte'', itself a calque of a Turkish phrase.^(DEI|3028)

+

+ Several derivatives came from French, according to DELI: ''portafinestra'' is ''porte-fenêtre'', ''portiera'' “door curtain” is ''portière'', ''portiere'' “doorkeeper” is ''portier'', ''portale'' is probably ''portail'', and the phrase ''mettere alla porta'' “to throw out” copies ''mettre à la porte'' (1690).^(DELI 1999) ''Portinaio'' “doorkeeper” is older, already ''portonarius'' in the Medieval Latin of Bologna in 1175 and Italian in Dante.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ In sport, Panzini's dictionary of 1905 explains ''goal'' in football as “la porta” through which one side tries to send the ball; the ''portiere'' “goalkeeper” is recorded from 1911 in the Bologna paper ''Resto del Carlino''.^(DELI 1999) In computing the word is used for a port.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * First half of the 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses ''porta'' for an opening in a wall.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1175 – Medieval Latin ''portonarius'' “doorkeeper” is recorded at Bologna.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1313–1319 – Dante uses ''portinaio''.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1494 – ''Portone'' “main street door” is in Boiardo.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1749 – ''Porta'' as an anatomical term is recorded in the Italian Chambers.^(DEI|3028)

+ * 1829 – ''La Sublime Porta'' names the Ottoman government.^(DEI|3028)

+ * 1905 – Panzini's dictionary uses ''porta'' for the goal in football.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1911 – ''Portiere'' “goalkeeper” appears in the ''Resto del Carlino''.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|doorway]], an opening in a wall, fence or city wall that lets people pass; also a [[m|en|city gate]], often in place names: ''Ci vediamo davanti alla porta della stazione.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # The [[m|en|door]] itself, the leaf or leaves that open and close the opening: ''Chiudi la porta, c’è corrente.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(Treccani 2011)

+ # The door of a cupboard, refrigerator, train or car: ''un’auto a tre porte''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A way in, a means of reaching something: ''Questo concorso è la sua porta per l’università.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)

+ # ''(sports)'' In football, handball, water polo and hockey, the [[m|en|goal]]: ''Il pallone è finito sopra la porta.''^(Sabatini–Coletti 2026)^(DELI 1999)^(Wiktionary)

+ # In an airport, the boarding [[m|en|gate]].^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(computing)'' A [[m|en|port]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[portone]]

+ * [[portiere]]

+ * [[portinaio]]

+ * [[portinaia]]

+ * [[portineria]]

+ * [[portiera]]

+ * [[portello]]

+ * [[sportello]]

+ * [[portale]]

+ * [[portafinestra]]

+ * [[soprapporta]]

+ * [[controporta]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[portico]]

+ * [[porto]]

+ * [[portare]]

+ * [[uscio]]

+ * [[la|porta]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Common phrases include ''alle porte'' “close at hand”, ''a porte chiuse'' “behind closed doors”, ''mettere alla porta'' “to throw out, to sack”, ''porta a porta'' “next door; door to door” and ''fuori porta'' “just outside town”.^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Treccani 2011) A Tuscan masculine ''porta'' “porter” (plural ''porta'' or ''porti''), recorded from Buonarroti the Younger before 1618, is formed from [[portare]], like ''il mangia'' and other nouns from the third person of a verb.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Tommaseo–Bellini 1861)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}