English 'portfolio' comes from Italian 'portafoglio' (carry-leaf), from Latin 'portāre' (to carry) + 'folium' (leaf, sheet) — literally a case for carrying paper leaves, extended to a minister's collected responsibilities and then to a collection of financial investments.
A large, thin case for carrying drawings, maps, or loose papers; a range of investments held by a person or organization; a range of products or services offered by a company.
From Italian 'portafoglio' (a flat case for carrying loose sheets of paper or documents), formed as a compound of 'porta' (an imperative-stem compounding form of 'portare,' to carry) and 'foglio' (a leaf of paper, a sheet, from Latin 'folium,' leaf). The first element 'portare' (to carry) derives from PIE *bʰer- (to carry, to bear, to bring) — one of the most productive PIE roots, giving English 'bear' (to carry), 'birth,' 'burden,' 'fertile,' 'bier' (a frame for carrying a coffin), and Latin 'ferre' (to carry), the source of 'transfer,' 'refer,' 'offer,' 'differ,' 'prefer,' 'suffer,' and 'ferry.' The second element 'folium' (leaf
A 'portfolio' is a 'leaf-carrier,' and the 'folio' in it is the same word as 'foliage' and (through a different PIE branch) 'flower' and 'bloom.' The two elements of 'portfolio' come from different PIE roots that both start with *bʰ-: *bʰer- (to carry) and *bʰleh₃- (to blossom). Your investment portfolio is, etymologically, a bouquet of carried leaves.