Porter (carrier) - Historical Meaning

Historical Meaning

Human adaptability and flexibility early led to the use of humans for shifting gear. Uneven terrain, such as in mountains, alleyways and markets, and a lack of formed roads, such as in jungle, makes the use of porters economical where one can hire people to shift inexpensively.

Porters were used commonly as human beasts of burden in the ancient world, when labor was generally cheap, especially in societies that depended on slavery. The ancient Sumerians, for example, enslaved women to shift wool and flax.

In the Americas where there were few native animals of burden all goods were carried by porters called Tlamemes in the Nahuatl language of Mesoamerica. In colonial times some areas of the Andes employed porters called silleros to carry persons, particularly Europeans, as well as their luggage across the difficult mountain passes.

The use of bearers for litters to shift persons of rank or religious idols, especially in formal processions, seems to have extended their practical function into that of ceremonial status symbol in the often conservative protocol of court and cult, a role continued into the 20th century with the papal sedia gestatoria and possibly echoed in the modern funeral pallbearer.

Porters in this sense continued to work in warehouses well into the twentieth century.