Etymologically
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fountain

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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
  • 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)