I'd always assumed that the surname "Porter" originated to designate one who had the trade of a porter; that is, one who carried ("ported") goods from one place to another. And indeed, porter (as a word) has that meaning. porter¹ – a person employed to carry luggage and other loads (COED)

But I've recently learned that the same word can also mean another trade. A porter is one who mans a gate or other entrance (a "port"). porter² – an employee in charge of the entrance of a large building (COED)

Now this strikes me as rather odd. A porter in the first sense would be a lowly occupation, one that only requires (as they say) "a mind that's week and a back that's strong". But a porter in the second sense would seem a more prestigious trade, an "inside-servant", indeed one with a fair degree of responsibility for building-security.

It's hard to believe that the same word would be used to name a high-class trade and a low-class one. Surely those of the high-class trade would object and want for themselves a distinct name, to distinguish themselves from low-class trade. How strange to have one word cover both.

Comments? How did this situation manage to persist?

Janitors used to be the servants in charge of the keys to the house. And now?

and now, for instance, the school janitor (although he now has a fancier name) has a ring full of keys, including, one supposes, the master for all the lockers, as a matter of security.

Hell, I thought it was named after the beer.

The other way around, according to Online Etymology Dictionary.

quote:

one who mans a gate or other entrance (a "port").

First off, I'd not think this person "high class." However, according to Tinman's link, one derivation is from L.L. portarius, meaning "gate," while the other is from L.L. portatorem (acc. portator), meaning "one who carries." That must be the reason.

Interesting about Porter beer. I always had wondered where that name came from.

So, Kalleh, ya wanna drink a toast to all them porters?

The definition of porter (the drink) is far from complete and accurate. Porter was not a cheap beer (indeed, porters were not especially poor people) but it was a style popular amongst London's market porters.

Fuller details here http://www.camra.org.uk/page.aspx?o=180680

Wikipedia lists no less than six occupations of porter (link).

quote:

• Porter (railroad), railroad employee who assists passengers
  
• Porter (carrier), person who carries objects
  
• Porter (college), member of staff in many of the colleges of the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford, and Durham
  
• Porter (doorkeeper), one of the minor orders of the Roman Catholic ministry; doorkeeper or gatekeeper
  
• Deal porter, dockworker specializing in handling baulks of softwood
  
• Groom Porter, official in charge of gambling in the Tudor court; the owner or operator of a gaming hall
  

As for the beer, Flann O'Brien in his masterful At Swim-Two-Birds gives us: "a pint of porter is your only man". When I went to a conference at Oxford, I picked up the key (actually a thin plastic card with holes punched into it) to my assigned room from the porter at the entrance to the college wherein I lodged. Made me feel as though I were in a Waugh novel.

Then, of course, there is the highly recommended novel by Tom Sharpe, Porterhouse Blue, about Skullion, who is the Head Porter of the fictional Cambridge college, Porterhouse.

Porterhouse

And porterhouse steak. I see from the dictionary entry for porterhouse that it is a chophouse or alehouse.

That's right. The manual labour aspect of their job meant that market porters were (and still are, to an extent) accustomed to refuelling with copious quantities of food and drink. A number of establishments catering to their needs with good quality food and beer were therefore situated close by the markets. Word of their good value and quality (and quantity) spread, and so many were also frequented by people of 'good breeding' as well.