The term portcullis first appeared in the 1330 verse romance Arthur and Merlin, originally spelled as port colice, with the same meaning it holds today. Variations in spelling during that period included porte colyse, portecule, portculys, portcolyse, and porcules. The earliest records suggest that the word originates from the Anglo-Norman phrase porte culiz, which translates to “sliding door”. This phrase is a combination of the Old French words porte (meaning “door”) and couleis (meaning “sliding”). The term porte is derived from the Latin porta, ultimately tracing back to the Proto-Indo-European root per, meaning “to pass through”. On the other hand, couleis likely stems from the Latin colare, which meant “strain” or “filter”. While its exact origins remain uncertain, its Indo-European roots are evident through cognates in Sanskrit.
