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Port Words: “apport” to “transportation”

Words from port-, portat- (Latin: carry, bring, bear)



apport (noun form):

The production of material objects, supposedly by occult means, at a spiritualistic séance; also, an object so produced. Usually in the plural. Previously, it meant: bearing, carriage, demeanor (now obsolete); or a reference to things brought; offerings; revenues; aids (now obsolete).

In its verb form, apport means to bring, produce; to arrive at.

apportable:
Capable of being brought forward, or produced.
asport:
To carry away, to remove feloniously.
asportation:
The action of carrying off; in Law, the felonious removal of property.
colporteur:
A hawker of books, newspapers, etc. especially (in English use) one employed by a society to travel about and sell or distribute Bibles and religious writings.
colportage:
The work of a colporteur; specifically, the distribution of religious books and tracts by colporteurs.
comport:
Literally, “to carry together”; to conduct or behave oneself in a given way; such as, “to comport oneself with tact”. To act in a particular manner; to behave; to bear, to endure; to tolerate. Also seen as: comportable, comportableness, and comportance.
comportment:
Personal bearing, demeanor, deportment; behavior, outward conduct, course of action. Formerly also in the plural form, proceedings, conduct.
deport:
1. To expel from a country; especially, to remove into exile, to banish.
2. To behave or conduct (oneself) in a specified manner. [Latin: de-, away + portare, to carry].
deportable:
Subject to or punishable by deportation.
deportation:
1. An act or instance of deporting.
2. Expulsion of an undesirable alien from a country.
deportee:
A deported individual.
deportment:
Manner of conducting oneself; conduct (of life); behavior; demeanor.
disport:
To divert or amuse (oneself); diversion; play. Also: disportable, disported, disporting.
export:
1. To carry (things or persons) out of a place; to take away, carry off.
2. To send out (commodities of any kind) from one country to another. Also, exportable.
exportation:
1. Carrying out from a place.
2. The conveying or sending (persons) out of the country.
3. The sending out (of commodities) from one country to another.
exporter:
One who exports; an export trader.
import:
That which is imported or brought in; a commodity imported from abroad; as opposed to export.
importation:
The bringing in of goods or merchandise from a foreign country.
importer:
One who, or that which, imports or introduces; especially a merchant who brings in or receives goods from abroad.
portable:
1. Capable of being carried by hand or on the person; capable of being moved from place to place; easily carried or conveyed.
2. Also used to distinguish mechanical devices or electrical apparatus manufactured in forms smaller and lighter than normal, to enable them to be easily carried about.
portage:
1. The action or work of carrying or transporting.
2. To carry or transport (boats, goods, etc.) over land between navigable waters.
portamento:
In music, a smooth constant glide in passing from one tone to another, especially with the voice or with a bowed-stringed instrument.
porter:
A person whose employment is to carry burdens; now especially a servant of a railway company, or airport, employed to carry luggage at a station or airport.
portfolio:
1. A receptacle or case for keeping loose sheets of paper, prints, drawings, maps, music, or the like; usually in the form of a large book-cover, and sometimes having sheets of paper fixed in it, between which specimens are placed.
2. Such a receptacle containing the official documents of a state department; hence, the office of a minister of state. Originally said in reference to France and other foreign countries.
3. Also in the phrase, “without portfolio”, (of a government minister), not being in charge of a specific department of state; for example, “Minister without Portfolio”.
portmanteau:
1. A case or bag for carrying clothing and other necessaries when travelling; originally of a form suitable for carrying on horseback; now applied to an oblong stiff leather case, which opens like a book, with hinges in the middle of the back.
2. In the sense of that into which things are packed together; originally applied by Lewis Carroll to a fictitious word made up of the blended sounds of two distinct words and combining the meanings of both; hence used by extension to things that are or suggest a combination of two different things of the same kind.

Several examples of cramming two words into one as clothes are stuffed into a portmanteau (traveling bag) include the following:

“slithy” (lithe and slimy).

“mimsy” (flimsy and miserable).

“galumph” (gallop and triumph).

“chortle” (chuckle and snort).

“smog” (smoke and fog).

“maffluent” (mass affluent; groups of people who have become relatively affluent because of the value of their stock investments).

“motel” (motor and hotel).

“momentaneous” (instantaneous and momentary).

“splisters” (splinters and blisters).

“swifting” (shifting and switching).

“editated” (edited and annotated).

“splatter” (splash and spatter).

“squish” (squirt and swish).

“blurt” (blow and spurt).

“splutter” (splash and sputter).

“grumble” (growling and rumbling).

“flaunt” (flout and vaunt).

“flare” (flame and glare).

“squawk” (squall and squeak).

Additional blends, in no particular order, include:

“slanguage ” (slang and language).

“sextraordinary ” (sex and extraordinary).

“alcoholidays ” (alcohol and holidays).

“escalator” (escalade and elevator; where escalade comes from Italian through French, meaning “the act of scaling or climbing the walls of a fortified place by ladders”).

“electrocution” (electro and execution).

“gerrymander” (Gerry and salamander; the division of a county, etc., into electoral sections so as to gain advantage for a political party or racial group; formed from the name of Eldridge Gerry, governor of Massachusetts, who first employed the system in 1812).

“stagflation” (stagnate and inflation).

“cinemactress” (cinema and actress).

“sexperts” (sex and expert).

“Saniflush” (sanitary and flush).

“Bisquick” (biscuit and quick).

“Oldsmobility”.

“netizen” (net and citizen).

“netiquette” (net and etiquette).

“modem” (modulator and demodulator).

“pixel” (pix and element; picture element, basic unit of an on-screen image).

“shareware” (share and software; free trial software often requiring later payment).

“emoticon” (emotion and icon; an illustration conveying a mood; as when viewed sideways, this emoticon,     :-)     signifies happiness; while this emoticon,     :-(     represents the opposite feeling). There are hundreds of emoticons that have been created for all kinds of emotional expressions.

“brunch ” (breakfast and lunch).

“tatooth ” (tatoo and tooth; a reference to those who have implanted gold initials or diamonds, etc. on their teeth).

Some portmanteau, or blend, words even come with definitions:

“cinemaddicts”: People who see too many movies.

“cremains”: The ashes that remain after a body has been cremated. A blend of cremated and remains.

“interferiority complex”: A reference to a busybody or snoop.

“administrivia”: Complicated, nitpicking administrative procedures.

“palimony”: Another term for “alimony” for those who formerly lived together and who have gone their separate ways. A blend of pal and alimony.

“Renovated”: People who get quickie divorces in Reno, Nevada.

“infanticipate”: Expecting a baby.

“shamateurs”: Amateur athletes who receive money for their activities.

“alcoholiday”: A lost weekend as a result of excessive drinking.

“victicracy ”: The rule, or government, of victims. The blend of victim and cracy.

“videots”: Those who are hooked on television. A blend of video and idiots.

“webopedia”: The Internet, or world-wide web, of children or the world-wide web plus encyclopedia.

In addition to portmanteau words, these artificial combinations of words have resulted in additional nomenclature; such as, blend words, brunch words, centaur words, or telescope words.


Lewis Carroll, in his Through the Looking Glass, not only is given credit for changing portmanteau from “a bag for carrying clothing and other necessaries for travelling” to “a blending of two words into a new one”; but he also wrote poetry that includes many blends. His famous portmanteau poem is “Jabberwocky”, which is shown below.


"Jabberwocky"
—by Lewis Carroll
‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Bewre the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

purport:
1. To have or present the appearance, often false, of being or intending something; as “a reporter who purports to be objective”.
2. To have the intention of doing something.
rapport:
Relationship, especially one of mutual trust or emotional affinity.
report:
A presentation or an account of something, often officially, formally, or periodically. [re-, back + portare, to carry].
reporter:
One who reports or relates; a recounter or narrator.
support:
1. To carry the weight of, especially from below.
2. To maintain in position so as to keep from falling, sinking, or slipping.
3. To be able to bear or withstand.
4. To provide for, by supplying with money or necessities.
teleport:
To convey oneself by teleportation.
teleportation:
The conveyance of persons (especially of oneself) or things by psychic power; also in futuristic description, apparently instantaneous transportation of persons, etc., across space by advanced technological methods.
transport:
The action of carrying or conveying a thing or person from one place to another.
transportation:
The action or process of transporting; conveyance (of things or persons) from one place to another.