Porte-cochere

Porte-cochere (pronounced pawrt-koh-shair, pawrt-kuh-shair, pohrt-koh-shair or pohrt-kuh-shair)

(1) A porch or portico-like structure attached to a building through which a horse and carriage (or now a motor vehicle) can pass in order for the occupants to alight under cover, protected from the weather.

(2) A gateway for carriages in a building, leading from the street to an interior court.

1690–1700: From the French porte-cochère, literally “gate for coaches”, the construct being porte (gateway) + cochère (the feminine adjectival form of coche (coach). Porte was from the Latin porta (a gate or entrance) from the Proto-Italic portā, from the primitive Indo-European porteha, from per- (to pass through/over). It was cognate with the Ancient Greek πόρος (póros) (means of passage).  Cochere was from coche (stage-coach), from the Hungarian kocsi, via the German Kutsche or the Italian cocchio (and a doublet of coach) + -ière.  The –French ière suffix was the feminine equivalent of –ier, from the Old & Middle French –ier & -er, from the Latin -ārium, accusative of –ārius.  It was used to form names in many diverse fields such as botany, architecture, ship-building and chemistry.

The Sublime Porte, photographed in 1904.

Later known as The Imperial Gate (Bâb-ı Hümâyûn), the structure leading to the outermost courtyard of Topkapi Palace, was, until the eighteenth century, known as The Sublime Porte.  Known also as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte (باب عالی‎, Romanized as Bāb-ı Ālī or Babıali), Sublime Porte was a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire in the same manner as the White House (US), Number 10 (UK), the Élysée (France) or the Kremlin (Russia).

The linkage which made the term Sublime Porte synecdochic of the Ottoman regime in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) was an old procedure in which the ruler delivered official pronouncements and sometimes judicial judgments at the gate of his palace of the palace.  It had been a frequent practice of Byzantine Emperors and was later adopted by Orhan I (Orhan Ghazi 1281–1362; second bey of the Ottoman Beylik 1323-1362) and thus the sultan’s palace became known as the Sublime Porte (High Gate).  The named moved with the sultan so after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453, the mystique once attached to the palace in Bursa, moved to the new imperial capital where, leading to the outermost courtyard of the Topkapı Palace, it was known variously as the "High Gate", the "Sublime Porte" or the “Imperial Gate” (Bâb-ı Hümâyûn).  The old imperial practice endures in modern politics as the “doorstop interview” although it’s become popular with politicians because having a lockable door immediately to their rear means there’s an easy and safe path with which to beat a rapid retreat when lies are detected or questions become too difficult.

In fourteenth century Europe, French was the most widely-spoken language and in 1539, the King’s Court declared French to be the official language of government.  It was in this era too that diplomacy began to assume a recognisably modern form with an increasingly consistent use of titles, conventions and institutions and this extended sometimes to architecture.  After Francis I (1494-1547; King of France 1515-1547) and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (Suleiman I (سليمان اول‎) 1494–1566; Sultan of the Ottoman Empire 1520-1566) negotiated a treaty in 1536, the French emissaries walked through the al-Bab al-'Ali (High Gate) to meet with the Sultan’s ministers to place their seals on the document.  Because French was the language of diplomacy, the French translation “Sublime Porte” was immediately adopted in other European chancelleries and became not only the term for the structure but also the synecdoche which served as a metaphor for the government of the Ottoman Empire.  Among locals however, it was often referred to as the “Gate of the Pasha” (paşa kapusu).  Damaged by fire in 1911, the buildings are now occupied by the offices of the Governor of Istanbul.

1967 Mercedes-Benz 600 (W100, 1963-1981) under the porte-cochere, Stamford Plaza Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.