Etymologically
Log in

founder

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 01:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Founder, one who establishes something, and founder, to sink, are different words, though both go back to Latin words for a base or bottom.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /ˈfaʊn.də/, US /ˈfaʊn.dɚ/[3]

founder1 one who founds

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English foundour, borrowed from Anglo-Norman fundur and Old French fondeor, from Latin fundātor, an agent noun from fundāre “to lay a foundation”,[2][1] the source of found.[2] MWU says the Middle English ending was altered under the influence of -er.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

One who establishes an institution with an endowment: 1303 in the OED, the mid-14th century in Etymonline.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

One who sets up something for the first time is from 1340–70,[4] and one who raises a building from 1387.[4] The feminine foundress is from the early 15th century.[2] Founder member is from 1889.[4] A different agent noun, from found “to cast metal”, is a founder or caster of metal, from about 1400 (1402 in the OED).[2][4]

Timeline

  • 1303 – one who endows an institution.[4]
  • 1340–70 – one who sets something up.[4]
  • 1402 – one who casts metal.[4]
  • 1889 – founder member.[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A person who starts an organization, institution or settlement.
  2. A person who casts metal.

founder2 sink

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English foundren, borrowed from Old French fondrer (“to collapse, sink to the bottom”),[2][5][1] from fond “bottom”, from Latin fundus (“bottom, foundation”).[2][5] Hoad takes it mainly as a shortening of earlier afounder, from Old French forms with a- and en-.[6] It is related to fund and bottom.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

To knock down or send to the bottom: before 1338 in Barnhart, the early 14th century in Etymonline.[5][2]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English it usually meant to fall to the ground, rather than to sink, and in the late 14th century it was used of a horse stumbling and going lame, as in Chaucer.[2][5][6] Of a ship filling with water and sinking it is from the 16th century,[6][5] and the figurative sense, to fail, from the 1580s.[2]

Timeline

  • a. 1338 – to knock down.[5]
  • c. 1385 – to stumble, of a horse.[5]
  • 16th century – of a ship, to sink.[6]
  • 1580s – figurative, to fail.[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. Of a ship, to fill with water and sink.
  2. To fail completely: the plan foundered.
  3. Of a horse, to stumble or go lame.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  6. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press