Porte

See also: porte, porté, and portë

English

Alternative forms

• Ottoman Porte
• Sublime Porte

Etymology

From Middle French porte (“gate”), ultimately after Ottoman Turkish باب عالی (Bâb-ı Âli, “Exalted Gate”), from Arabic بَاب (bāb, “gate”) and عَالِيّ (ʕāliyy, “high, exalted”), a synecdoche for the Ottoman government originally referring to the outer gate of the sultan's Topkapı palace at which justice was administered, and later to the gate of the palace of the grand vizier.

Proper noun

Porte

1. (now historical) The Ottoman court; (hence), the government of the Ottoman empire. [from 15th c.]
   • 1793 February 20, Hester Piozzi, Thraliana:

     Another odd Combination: 'tis now confidently asserted that the Ottoman Porte enters into a League offensive & defensive with France […] .

   • 1988, Milorad Pavić, translated by Christina Pribićević-Zorić, Dictionary of the Khazars, Vintage, published 1989, page 24:

     A hired diplomat in Edirne and to the Porte in Constantinople, a military commander in the Austro-Turkish wars, a polyhistor and a learned man.

   • 2015, Eugene Rogan, The Fall of the Ottomans, Penguin, published 2016, page 19:

     The Ottoman defenders in Edirne (ancient Adrianople, a city in modern Turkey near Greece and Bulgaria) were left surrounded and under siege when the Porte sued for an armistice in early December 1912.

Anagrams

• -trope, ptero-, Perot, trope, Petro, retop, petro-, repot, petro, tepor, toper, opter

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Porte

1. nominative/accusative/genitive plural of Port (“harbor”)