Where did the terms PORT and Starboard originate?
 

Latin? Celestial naviagtion?

In the old Scandinavian languages (and in Swedish today) Starboard was (is) called Styrbord.

'Styr' = 'steer' in english
'bord' means the side of the ship. For example; to board a ship meant that you used hooks and stuff to attach your own ship to the ship you where attacking, The hooks griped in holes and the plankings. 'A bord' also means one of the plankings that the whole boat consisted of.

It originates from the ships that the Vikings [850 - 1050 A.C.] used. The stern was "pointy" so the rudder had to be put on one side, hence 'styrbord'. The other side is called 'Babord' which meant that the first mate had his back to it. That side is called 'port' in english because that is the side that went up against the shore or jetty.

Cheers
Thomas

Nah. Ya see, ya got it all wrong.
The term "Port" (as in home port) came from the direction the hooligans had to go for cheap booze and easy women.
Starbord was somewhere else that they never went.

DJD how's the baby????

The baby boy is EXCELLENT puder, thank you for asking:D He is mini me:D :D

Origins of boaters language has come from many places: ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Scandinavia, England and elesewere.
On ancient boats the rudder was to the right of center of the stern. Here it was protected from damage when the ship was in port. The tiller was kept under the helmsmans right arm.

In Norway, the rudder was a "stjorn" board or stearing board.
When pronounced it sounds like "starn". So the right side of a vessel when looking forward became known as the "stjorn" board or starbord side.

When a vessel came to port, it was with the left side to the wharf. This was the side most visible to the helmsman. It was also the side for the "load board". So te left side became known as the Larboard side.

Because larboard and and starboard sound alike and were easily confused larbord was changed to port since this was the side of the vessel next to the wharf when in port.

I had heard that one of he old English pirates was the first to adopt the expression of "Port", rather than "Larboard", when shouting commands to his crew. This prevented confusion when the winds made hearing difficult.

The captain probably wasn't too sympathetic with a crew member who pulled on the wrong rope, or turned the wrong way when he confused Starboard with Larboard. Union grievances were summarily rejected.

Quiz; Why are pirates so mean?
Answer; Because they AARG.
Little kids get a kick out of that one if you can really growl out the last word.

POSH comes from the old steam ship days when booking passage out of London for the Mediterranean
and was an abbreviation for "Port Outbound, Starboard Homebound" and these tickets cost more because you had a view of the land on both legs of your journey. Hence, posh means a higher level of luxury.