View Message

I can see where the books coming from. Port can mean "gateway," Old English port "portal, door, gate, entrance," from Old French porte "gate, entrance," from Latin porta "city gate, gate; door, entrance," from PIE root *per- (see port (n.1)). Specific meaning "porthole, opening in the side of a ship" is attested from c.1300.

---

It seems quite possible that Portia could have been derived from Latin porta meaning "gate" or "door."