import

The English word "import" traces its origins to the Latin verb "importāre," which means "to bring in‌​‍​‍​‍​‌​‍​‍​‌​‌​‌​‍​‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‌​‍​‍​‍​‌​‌​‍​‌​‌​‍​‍​‍​‍​‌​‍​‍," "to carry in," or "to convey." This Latin term is a compound formed from the prefix "in-" meaning "in" or "into," combined with the verb "portāre," meaning "to carry." The verb "portāre" itself derives from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root *per-, which carries the general sense of "to lead," "to pass over," or "to carry across." This PIE root is notably productive and has given rise to a variety of related words in several Indo-European languages, including Latin "porta" (meaning "gate," the place through which things are carried), "portus" (meaning "harbor"), Greek "póros" (πόρος, meaning "passage" or "ford"), and English words such as "ford," "ferry," and "fare," all of which share the underlying notion of passage or carrying over.

The term "import" entered the English language in the fifteenth century, having been borrowed from Old French. Interestingly, its initial meaning in English was not primarily commercial but rather abstract and semantic: "to signify," "to matter," or "to be of consequence." This sense is preserved in modern English in phrases like "of no import" and in the adjective "important," which literally means "carrying weight" in a metaphorical sense. The semantic development here reflects a Latin metaphor whereby what is "carried into" one's life or discourse carries significance or weight.

The commercial meaning of "import" as "to bring goods or services into a country from abroad for sale" emerged later, during the sixteenth century. This shift coincided with the rise of mercantilist economic theory, which emphasized the importance of regulating trade balances and distinguishing between incoming and outgoing goods as matters of national policy. The economic sense of "import" thus developed as a specialized extension of the original Latin meaning of physically carrying something into a place, applied specifically to the movement of merchandise across national borders.

The coexistence of the two primary senses of "import"—the abstract sense of "to signify" and the concrete sense of "to bring in"—can be understood as stemming from the same Latin root but diverging in their metaphorical versus literal applications. The abstract sense relates to the idea of carrying meaning or significance into a discourse or situation, while the commercial sense relates to the physical act of carrying goods into a country.

It is important to distinguish these inherited meanings from later borrowings or semantic shifts. The English "import" is a direct borrowing from Old French, which itself inherited the term from Latin. The semantic shift from "to signify" to "to bring in goods" is a development within the English language and its economic context rather than a borrowing of a new sense from another language. The PIE root *per- remains a hypothetical reconstruction, as is standard in historical linguistics, but its widespread reflexes across Indo-European languages support the etymological lineage of "import."

"import" is a word with a clear Latin origin, composed of the prefix "in-" and the verb "portāre," ultimately rooted in the Proto-Indo-European *per-. Its earliest English usage, borrowed from Old French in the fifteenth century, emphasized the abstract notion of significance or consequence. The commercial sense of bringing goods into a country developed in the sixteenth century, reflecting economic and political changes of the period. Both senses remain in use today, illustrating the rich metaphorical and literal heritage of the term.