MovieChat Forums > My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002) Discussion > Funny that "Portokalos" isn't actually G...

Funny that "Portokalos" isn't actually Greek

posted 9 years ago by Pi_7
7 replies | jump to latest

I was surprised to see this isn't in the trivia section because I almost thought it was done on purpose!

Considering Gus' love of finding Greek roots in every English word, I found it very funny that his own surname "Portokalos", while it does mean "orange", is not actually a pure Greek word but an adaptation of "Portugal" since that country introduced oranges in Greece. Etymologically, "Portugal" (>Portucale> Portus Cale) is Latin.

I have no idea whether Portokalos is a "real" surname in Greece since it sounds quite strange, or why it was picked for this film in particular.

[–] riverstyxdriad 9 years ago

It was probably picked so that the apples and oranges joke would work.

High summer holds the earth
On this shining night

[–] jgroub 9 years ago

This is what I didn't understand the whole movie. All I could think of when I heard Portokalos was portcullis - which is the big heavy iron gate with spikes on the bottom that comes down at the front of a castle. What is all this business about oranges? How could portcullis and portokalos be derived from two completely different words?

I want the doctor to take your picture so I can look at you from inside as well.

[–] Pi_7 9 years ago

I do not think those words are that similar...
Is "portcullis" used in Greek? If it is, it would be a loanword from a latin language just like "portokalos".

Portcullis comes directly from the French (and therefore from Latin) "porte coulissante", while "Portokalos" comes directly from the Portuguese "Portugal".

Portugal (hellenicised to Portokalos) comes from the name of two adjoining roman cities, Portus and Cale (today Porto and Gaia), Portus meaning "port" (as in harbour) and Cale having a debated origin, probably Celtic (the celts having been there before the romans).

"Porte" and "colissante" (verb coulisser) come from the Latin words "porta" and "colare"

So, while they have completely different meanings, portus and porta are indeed similar words, while "Cale" and "Colare" have distinct origins.

It is just a coincidence.

[–] marilouba 9 years ago

Portokali (Πορτοκάλι) which is the word for the actual fruit in Greek, derives from the italian word Portogallo which is their name for Portugal. Now, the reason why that's what's used for the fruit, is because we mainly imported sweet oranges from them.

Now for the name..surnames in Greece, many times, come from nicknames people used to call eachother, and eventually they got to be official. So it kinda makes sense that if someone waaaay back in the day made a joke about one of the Portokalos' family ancestors, that nickname stuck. The ending of the word is changed to fit as a last name. Also the ending syllable of someone's name in Greece usually suggests to where the family comes from geographically, but lets not get into that now ^_^

[–] Katiedidd 9 years ago

Interesting! Tell me what you know about Spartan names. I know someone who swears his name is Spartan. It's an unusual name for sure; only two syllables (apparently unchanged), which is not typical for Greek names. Finding out if a name has a Spartan origin is not something I have ever succeeded in Googling, and I don't know if it was "a fact" just passed down through his family that may be malarkey... :D

[–] mmitsos-1 9 years ago

I'm Greek (mother was born there). Portokali indeed means "orange", the fruit.

Potokalia is the plural form, from a pronunciation standpoint. There us nothing about the word that is of Portuguese origin.

[–] goldengold-1 7 years ago

If it was a man from Portugal then it would be "Portogalos"... my friend.