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Origin and history of starboard

starboard(n.)

"side of a vessel on one's right when facing the bow," Middle English sterebord, from Old English steorbord, literally "steer-board, side on which a vessel was steered," with bord "ship's side" (see board (n.2)) + steor "rudder, steering paddle," from Proto-Germanic *steuro "a steering" (compare German Steuer). This is reconstructed to be from PIE *steu-, a secondary form of the root *sta- "to stand, make or be firm." Similar formation are in Old Norse stjornborði, Low German stürbord, Dutch stuurboord, German Steuerbord. Compare larboard, port (n.4).

According to OED, early Germanic peoples' boats were propelled and steered by a paddle on the right side. The opposite side of the ship sometimes in Germanic was the "back-board" (Old English bæcbord). French tribord (Old French estribord), Italian stribordo "starboard" are Germanic loan-words.

Entries linking to starboard

board(n.2)

"side of ship," Old English bord "border, rim, ship's side," from Proto-Germanic *burdan (source also of Old Frisian bord, Old Saxon bord, Dutch boord "border, edge, ship's side," German Bord "margin, border," Old High German bart, Old Norse barð "margin, shore, ship-board"), perhaps from the same source as board (n.1), but not all sources accept this. Connected to border; see also starboard.

If not etymologically related to board (n.1), the two forms represented in English by these words were nonetheless confused at an early date in most Germanic languages, a situation made worse in English because this Germanic word also was adopted in Medieval Latin as bordus (source of Italian and Spanish bordo) and entered Old French as bort "beam, board, plank; side of a ship" (12c., Modern French bord), via either Medieval Latin or Frankish. It came into English with the Normans to mingle with its native cousins. By now the senses are inextricably tangled. Some etymology dictionaries treat them as having been the same word all along.

To go by the board originally was "fall overboard" (1757), of a mast, etc., hence, generally, "be completely lost or destroyed" (1835). To be on board is from c. 1500, originally nautical, "close alongside;" then, less technically, "on the ship" (1708), perhaps by influence of aboard, or from the noun in the sense "plank;" subsequently extended to trains, planes, general situations.

larboard(n.)

"left-hand side of a ship" (to a person on board and facing the bow), 1580s, alteration of Middle English ladde-borde (c. 1300), which is perhaps literally "the loading side," if this was the side on which goods were loaded onto a ship. In which case it would be from laden "to load" (see lade) + bord "ship's side" (see board (n.2)).

Altered 16c. by influence of starboard, then, to avoid confusion of similar-sounding words, it was largely replaced by the specialized sense of port (n.4). The Old English term for it was bæcbord, literally "back board" (compare starboard), a term which remains in the other Germanic tongues.

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port
"a bay, cove, inlet, or recess of a large body of water where vessels can load and unload and find shelter from storms; a harbor, whether natural or artificial," Old English port "a port, harbor, a place where there is a constant resort of vessels for the purpose of loading and u
posh
push), a word of uncertain origin, but there is no evidence for the common derivation from an acronym of port outward, starboard...
maneuver
"planned movement of troops or warship," 1757, from French manoeuvre "manipulation, maneuver," from Old French manovre "manual labor" 13c.), from Medieval Latin manuopera (source of Spanish maniobra, Italian manovra), from manuoperare "work with the hands," from Latin manu operar
credit
1540s, "belief, faith," from French crédit (15c.) "belief, trust," from Italian credito, from Latin creditum "a loan, thing entrusted to another," neuter past participle of credere "to trust, entrust, believe" (see credo). The commercial sense of "confidence in the ability and in
direct
late 14c., directen, "to write or address (a letter, words)" to someone, also "to point or make known a course to," from Latin directus past participle of dirigere "set straight, arrange; give a particular direction to, send in a straight line; guide" a thing, either to something
head
Old English heafod "top of the body," also "upper end of a slope," also "chief person, leader, ruler; capital city," from Proto-Germanic *haubid (source also of Old Saxon hobid, Old Norse hofuð, Old Frisian haved, Middle Dutch hovet, Dutch hoofd, Old High German houbit, German Ha
Labrador
large province of eastern Canada, probably from Portuguese Lavrador, which is of uncertain origin. Among the theories advanced, W.F. Ganong identifies as "The generally accepted and altogether probable one" that "it was originally 'Terra Laboratoris,' land of the laborer because
pinot
type of grape vine used in wine-making, 1912, American English variant spelling of French pineau (attested in English from 1763), name of a family of wine grapes, from pin "pine tree" (see pine (n.)) + diminutive suffix -eau. So called from the shape of the grape clusters. Varian
point
c. 1200, pointe, "minute amount, single item in a whole; sharp end of a sword, etc.," a merger of two words, both ultimately from Latin pungere "to prick, pierce," from a nasalized form of PIE root *peuk- "to prick." The Latin neuter past participle punctum was used as a noun, me
side
Old English side "flanks of a person, the long part or aspect of anything," from Proto-Germanic *sīdō (source also of Old Saxon sida, Old Norse siða, "flank; side (of meat); coast," Danish side, Swedish sida, Middle Dutch side, Dutch zidje, Old High German sita, German Seite), fr

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