Portmanteau (luggage) explained

A portmanteau is a piece of luggage, usually made of leather and opening into two equal parts. Some are large, upright, and hinged at the back and enable hanging up clothes in one half,^[1] while others are much smaller bags (such as Gladstone bags) with two equally sized compartments.^[2]

The word derives from the French word portemanteau (from porter, "to carry", and manteau, "coat") which nowadays means a coat rack but was in the past also used to refer to a traveling case or bag for clothes.^{[3] [4]}

Portmanteau mail bag

In the 1700s, the term also described a mail bag.^[5] This continued into the 1800s for bags used by the United States Postal Service.^{[6] [7]} An 1823 resolution in Congress further stated that "locks... will be placed on the portmanteaus containing the principal mails [which] can only be opened... at the distributing offices."^[8]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Portmanteau definition and meaning - Collins English Dictionary. Collinsdictionary.com.
2. Web site: A History of Vintage Luggage. Achome.co.uk . January 16, 2014.
3. [Petit Robert]
4. Web site: PORTEMANTEAU : Définition de PORTEMANTEAU. Cnrtl.fr.
5. Web site: Chmara. Agnieszka. March 26, 2018. Portmanteau. Eighteenth Century Lit.pbworks.com. September 2, 2023. A 1726 dictionary defines a portmanteau as a Mail or a Cloak Bag... .
6. Web site: Marsh. Allison . US Postal Bag Prototype . National Postal Museum. September 2, 2023. In the 19th century, both newspapers and letters were placed in a portmanteau, a round, side-opening, leather bag. .
7. Web site: Mail bag. October 19, 2016. Shaker Museum and Library. September 2, 2023 . This style of bag, sometimes called a portmanteau, was used by the Post Office Department in the mid-1800s to transport mail... .
8. News: May 27, 2017. Bulloch History with Roger Allen: Nation, Georgia set up Rural Free Delivery mail routes. . September 2, 2023. It directed that here, All letters... are placed in a portmanteau [or] principal mail bag... .