fountain

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈfaʊn.tɪn/, US /ˈfaʊn.tən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English fountaine, borrowed from Old French fontaine (“natural spring”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Late Latin fontāna (“fountain, spring”), the feminine of Latin fontānus (“of a spring”),^[2][3][4][5] from fōns (“spring”),^[2][3] which Watkins traces to Proto-Indo-European *dhen- (“to run, flow”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A natural spring that collects in a pool: about 1410 in Barnhart, the early 15th century in Etymonline, about 1450 in the OED.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

A fountain was at first a natural spring rather than an artificial one.^[8] Figuratively, a source, it is from 1398.^[7] An artificial jet of water, and the structure that makes it, is from 1509.^[2][7] The fountain pen, named for its reservoir of ink, is from 1823,^[3] and the drinking fountain from the mid-1800s.^[2] The same Latin word gave font, a baptismal font.^[8] In Gloucestershire and Devon a fountain was a kitchen boiler beside the stove.^[9]

Timeline

• 1398 – a source (figurative).^[7]
• c. 1410 – a natural spring.^[2]
• 1509 – an artificial jet of water.^[2][7]
• 1823 – fountain pen.^[3]
• mid-1800s – drinking fountain.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An artificial jet or spray of water, or the decorative structure from which it rises.
2. A natural spring, especially the source of a stream.
3. A jet or cascade of sparks, lava or the like.
4. A source or origin.
5. A reservoir for a liquid, as for oil in a lamp or ink in a pen.

Verb

1. To flow or spurt like a fountain.

Word family

• fountained
• fountainless
• fountainlike
• fountainhead
• drinking fountain
• fountain of youth
• fountain pen
• ink fountain

Related words

• font
• fount

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)