The word opportunity comes from the Latin term opportunitas, which is composed of two other terms: ob, meaning “toward”, and portus, meaning “port.”  This word came about in the realm of navigation, where sailors used the phrase ob portus to denote the best combination of wind,

current, and tide to sail to port. However, the only way to seize such weather conditions is as if the vessel’s captain had already sighted the port of destination. Knowing the weather conditions without knowing the destination was useless. Therefore, a ship was in a state of opportunitas when its captain had decided where to go and knew how to get there. Later, however, the word evolved in a different direction to denote only external conditions while excluding the individual who would seize them. — Luis E. Romero.