Week 13 Cady - Portmanteau

 Portmanteau:

(n.) a large suitcase

“...the pearl-coloured robe, the vapoury veil pendent from the usurped portmanteau” (Bronte 419). This is from the novel Jane Eyre.

This is an extremely frenchy looking word (which isn't surprising since they speak a lot of french in this novel) so I decided to trace its origin. Sure enough, this word originates from a middle french "portemanteau", which can be broken up into two separate words porte and manteau. Porte means "to carry", later evolving into the word for porter, a person who carries luggage. Manteau translates to "cloak", becoming the word mantle in the english language. These two words together form portemanteau or portmanteau that means carrying cloak, or suitcase. 

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