The word "garage door" doesn't stretch that far back into history as we use it today, but its roots begin centuries ago. The word "garage" is from the French garage, a shelter fora vehicle, originally "a place for storing objects", which is itself originally from the French verb garer, which means "to shelter". This comes from Middle French, garer, which means "to shelter, or dock ships," which comes from the Frank. *waron, which means "to guard". Similarly, the Old German *waron, which means "to take care". These come from the Proto-Germanic prefix *war-, which is based on the Proto-Indo European base *wer-, which means "to cover". Essentially, garage means to cover, or to shelter.
The first appearance of the words as we know it today is documented in 1902, from an Athletic Club Journal in New York, wherein they explain about the club's builging a new "garage", which, according to the author, is an automobile stable. Fully one hundred of the club members owned an automobile, sothe novel design should come in handy. It was the first of its kind in the country.
The word "door", on the other hand, is a combination of Middle English and the Old English "dor", which meant "gate", and "duru", which meant "door, gate, wicket". These both find their roots in the Proto-Germanic *dur-, which itself came from the Proto-Indo European *dhwer-, which signified a doorway, a door, or a gate. Similarly, in old Greek, *thura meant gate, and in Gaul doro meant "mouth". Old Sanskrit used dvárah for door, and old Persian used duvara.
So the term garage door is an amalgamation of meanings from across time and all across the world, from the Persian Empire to Gaulic tribes to snooty city country clubs. The history of words can really tell you something about them.
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