fontaine

Forms

fontaine f (plural fontaines)^[1] Old French funteine (about 1170, Livre des Rois), fontene;^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman fointaine.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fontaine, inherited from Late Latin fontāna (“spring, fountain”), the feminine of the Latin adjective fontānus (“of a spring”) used as a noun, from fōns (“spring”), the source of fonts.^[5][6][7][8] In Gallo-Romance it was used only in the north; south of a line from the Gironde estuary to the Hautes-Alpes the word is Occitan fon.^[6]

Cognate with Italian fontana, Old Occitan fontana, Catalan fontana, Romanian fântână and Old Spanish hontana.^[9][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1160 in the Roman d'Eneas for “living water”, a spring.^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

From “water rising from the ground” the word passed, by about 1174–1176, to the figurative “principle, origin”, used of Christ by Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[5] In 1281 it named a vessel holding water for household use, in the late 14th century a structure built for water to flow from, and in 1690 a monumental fountain with basins.^[5][7] The fontaine de Jouvence is a 15th-century phrase.^[7][2] About 1290 Walter of Bibbesworth uses it for the fontanelle, and in 1872 Larousse records it for the top of a sperm whale's head.^[5] In pastry it is a hollow made in a heap of flour (1811).^[5][7] Borne-fontaine dates from 1835.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Fontaine “spring” in the Roman d'Eneas.^[5]
• 1174–1176 – Figurative “origin” in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[5]
• 1281 – A silver-gilt fontaine for domestic use.^[5]
• c. 1290 – Used for the fontanelle.^[5]
• 1396–1397 – A structure for the flow of water, in the accounts of Mézières.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records the monumental fountain.^[7][2]
• 1811 – Pastry sense.^[5]
• 1835 – Borne-fontaine is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A spring of fresh water rising from the ground: cresson de fontaine.^[11][12][5]
2. A fountain, a structure from which water flows, usually into a basin: la fontaine de la place.^[11][12][1]
3. A household water container with a tap.^[12][5][1]
4. (cooking) A well made in a heap of flour.^[5][7]
5. (figurative) Source, origin: la fontaine de Jouvence.^[11][2]

Word family

• fontainier

Related words

• fonts
• Latin fōns

Usage notes

The proverb Il ne faut pas dire « Fontaine, je ne boirai pas de ton eau » warns against swearing one will never need something, and pleurer comme une fontaine is to cry floods of tears.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 696b
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)