fontanus Latin · revision 35781

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=43 BC–18 AD, Ovid|origins=la fōns}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [fɔnˈtaː.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [fonˈtaː.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fontānus''' (feminine fontāna, neuter fontānum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|fōns|-ānus|t1=spring, fountain]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) That noun goes back to [[itc-pro|*fonti-]] and [[ine-pro|*dʰonh₂-ti-|t=flowing]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler records it first in Ovid,^(Köbler 2010) who has ''fontāna aqua'', spring water, and ''fontāna nūmina'', the [[m|en|naiad|alt=Naiads]].^(TLL)

+

+ ==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.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) 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 [[m|en|fuller|alt=fullers]] for the cult of the gods of their spring.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ In Christian writers it is used of the font of baptism, and Marius Victorinus uses it figuratively for “original, primal”.^(TLL) The feminine ''fontāna'' became a noun for a spring or fountain in Late Latin, the source of Italian ''fontana'' and French ''fontaine'';^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) British Medieval Latin has ''fontāna'' for a spring or well and uses the adjective for the town of Wells.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for spring water and the gods of springs.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus compares spring water with rainwater and river water.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57 AD – An inscription at Rome names the masters of the college of the ''fontānī''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+ * before 380 AD – Zeno of Verona uses it of the font of baptism.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Of a [[m|en|spring]] or [[m|en|fountain]], spring-.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' Of the [[m|en|font]] of baptism.^(TLL)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A god of springs.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(plural)'' Members of a college at Rome, apparently of fullers, devoted to the gods of their spring.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fontāna]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|fountain]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}