means A porter is a person hired to carry luggage, goods, or burdens — or the dark, malty beer once favored by such workers; the same word can also mean a doorkeeper or gatekeeper, though that sense comes from a different root.

from There are actually two porters tangled here. The 'carrier' porter comes from Latin 'portare,' to carry, via Old French 'porteour' — the same family that gives us 'portable' and 'transport.' The beer took its name in 18th-century London from this porter, the popular drink of the street and market porters who hauled heavy loads. (The unrelated doorkeeper 'porter' descends from Latin 'porta,' a gate or door — a cousin of 'portal' and 'port.')