portage (n.)

early 15c., "action of carrying," said to be from Old French portage, Medieval Latin portaticum, though the meaning of these was "tax paid on entering a town," from Latin portare "to carry" (from PIE root *per- (2) "to lead, pass over"). Sense of "carrying of boats from one navigable water to another" is from 1690s, reinforced in Canadian French.