fonte Italian · revision 38896

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1260–1261, Brunetto Latini|origins=la fōns}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /ˈfon.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fonte''' ''f'' (plural fonti)^(Wiktionary)

+ In the sense “baptismal font” the noun is masculine.^(Wiktionary)^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026) Old Italian forms include [[m|roa-oit|font]] and [[m|roa-oit|fonto]].^(TLIO)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|fōns|t=spring, source]], from the accusative [[m|la|fōns|alt=fontem]].^(DELI 1999)^(Nocentini 2010)^(GRADIT 2003)^(Wiktionary) The word is found in most Romance languages: [[oc|fon]], [[ca|font]], [[es|fuente]], [[pt|fonte]] and [[fur|font]].^(Nocentini 2010)^(REW 1935) It is missing in Romanian, Sardinian and French, where [[fr|fonts|t=baptismal font]] is a learned word.^(DEI|1683)^(REW 1935) The derivative [[fontana]] goes back to the Late Latin noun [[m|la-lat|fontāna]], properly “spring water”.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ DELI calls the origin of the Latin word uncertain.^(DELI 1999) De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*fonti-]] and [[ine-pro|*dʰonh₂-ti-|t=flowing]], and compares [[sa|धन्वति|tr=dhánvati|t=flows]];^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010) Nocentini makes the same comparison.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Nocentini 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLIO's first record is in Brunetto Latini's ''Rettorica'', about 1260–1261, in Florentine.^(TLIO) DELI dates the senses “spring” and “origin, principle” to Guittone d'Arezzo, before 1294.^(DELI 1999)^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old Italian used ''fonte'' for a natural spring, for a built fountain, and, from the end of the 13th century, in the ''Novellino'', for the basin of baptismal water;^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) Dante made it masculine in that sense.^(DELI 1999)^(TLIO) The phrase ''levare al fonte'' meant “to stand godparent at a baptism”.^(TLIO) Figurative senses were there from the start: the eyes as the source of tears, the sun as the source of light, God as the source of grace.^(TLIO)^(GRADIT 2003) Dante's ''Inferno'' describes the water from “mille fonti, credo, e più” (a thousand springs, I think, and more) that bathes the land between Garda and Val Camonica.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ The plural ''fonti'' for the original documents of history is recorded from 1559, in Bartolomeo Cavalcanti.^(DELI 1999) Modern senses include a source of information, a source of law, and sources of energy and income, as in ''ritenuta alla fonte'' “tax withheld at source”.^(GRADIT 2003)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1260–1261 – Brunetto Latini uses ''fonte''.^(TLIO)

+ * Before 1294 – Guittone d'Arezzo uses it for “spring” and “origin”.^(DELI 1999)

+ * End of the 13th century – The ''Novellino'' uses it for the baptismal font.^(DELI 1999)

+ * Before 1321 – Dante uses the word as a masculine for the font.^(DELI 1999)

+ * 1559 – Bartolomeo Cavalcanti uses ''fonti'' for historical documents.^(DELI 1999)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|spring]], water flowing out of the ground; the source of a river.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(literary)'' A stream or pool of spring water.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # A [[fontana]], a public fountain.^(GRADIT 2003)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|source]], cause or origin: ''una fonte di preoccupazione''.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A person or body that provides information: ''Lo so da una fonte attendibile.''^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' The documents from which history is reconstructed; in literary criticism, a work's models.^(GRADIT 2003)^(DELI 1999)

+ # ''(masculine)'' The baptismal [[m|en|font]]: ''il fonte battesimale''.^(DELI 1999)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fontana]]

+ * [[fontanella]]

+ * [[fontaniere]]

+ * [[fontanile]]

+ * [[fontale]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la|fons]]

+ * [[es|fuente]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ In printing and computing a separate ''fonte'' (1956) is an uncommon Italian form of [[font]], from English ''font'' and French ''fonte'' “casting”.^(GRADIT 2003)^(Devoto–Oli 2026)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}