portitor Latin · revision 9618
16 Oct 2026, 19:21 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{homograph|1|customs officer}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *per-}}
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''portitor''' ''m'' (genitive portitōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The customs officer is probably from [[portus]] “harbour” with the agent suffix [[-tor]], like ⟨holitor⟩ from ⟨holus⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) De Vaan traces ⟨portus⟩ to [[ine-pro|*pr̥-tó-|t=passed, crossed]] or ⟨*port-o-⟩ “passage”.^(de Vaan 2008)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citations are from Plautus.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was a collector of harbour dues and tolls, a customs officer, as in Plautus and Cicero.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) The OLD puts here Virgil's use of the word for Charon, apparently as the collector of the underworld's toll.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|toll]] collector, customs officer.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[portitōrius]]
+
+ {{homograph|2|carrier, ferryman}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Virgil|origins=la portō}}
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''portitor''' ''m'' (genitive portitōris); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The carrier is from [[portō]] “to carry”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Wiktionary) The Thesaurus thinks these senses grew from the first word under the influence of ⟨portāre⟩ and ⟨porta⟩.^(TLL)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Köbler's earliest source is Virgil, whom he dates 70–19 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It was a carrier, bearer, and especially one who carries people by boat, a ferryman, boatman, as in Seneca; in poetry it was Charon, the ferryman of the dead, as in Propertius and Virgil's ''portitor Orcī''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016) Lewis & Short call this sense poetic and post-Augustan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it was a carrier, bearer, porter.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for a bearer of letters, a messenger.^(Niermeyer 1976) British Medieval Latin had a ''portitor'' from [[porta]] “gate”, a doorkeeper, which became the surname Porter.^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of Charon.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a boatman.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1086 – Domesday Book uses ''portitor'' “porter”.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A carrier, bearer; a [[m|en|ferryman]], and Charon.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A messenger; a [[m|en|porter]], doorkeeper.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[portus]]
+ * [[portō]]
+ * [[porta]]
+ * [[portōrium]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}