Etymologically
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fontanus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fɔnˈtaː.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fonˈtaː.nus][1]

Forms

fontānus (feminine fontāna, neuter fontānum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fōns (“spring, fountain”) + -ānus.[2][3][1] That noun goes back to Proto-Italic *fonti- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰonh₂-ti- (“flowing”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Ovid,[5] who has fontāna aqua, spring water, and fontāna nūmina, the Naiads.[3]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it means “of a spring or fountain”: Celsus ranks rainwater as the lightest water and spring water next, and Columella uses it too.[3][6] As a noun, Fontānus was a god of springs, named beside a goddess Fontāna in an inscription, and the fontānī were a college at Rome, apparently formed by the fullers for the cult of the gods of their spring.[2][3]

In Christian writers it is used of the font of baptism, and Marius Victorinus uses it figuratively for “original, primal”.[3] The feminine fontāna became a noun for a spring or fountain in Late Latin, the source of Italian fontana and French fontaine;[3][6] British Medieval Latin has fontāna for a spring or well and uses the adjective for the town of Wells.[7]

Timeline

  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for spring water and the gods of springs.[3][5]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus compares spring water with rainwater and river water.[3][5]
  • 57 AD – An inscription at Rome names the masters of the college of the fontānī.[2][3]
  • before 380 AD – Zeno of Verona uses it of the font of baptism.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a spring or fountain, spring-.[2][6]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) Of the font of baptism.[3]

Noun

  1. A god of springs.[2]
  2. (plural) Members of a college at Rome, apparently of fullers, devoted to the gods of their spring.[2][3]

Word family

  • fontāna

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press