font English · revision 39532

+ English has two nouns spelled ''font'': the basin for baptismal water, from Latin ''fōns'' "spring", and the set of printing type, from French ''fonte'' "casting".^(Ayto 2005)^(Barnhart 1988)^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * UK: /fɒnt/^(Wiktionary)

+ * US: /fɑnt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|basin}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=Old English, a pastoral letter on Mass at vigils|origins=la fōns}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|ang|font]], also spelled [[m|ang|fant]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) [[bor|la|fōns|t=spring, fountain, source]], which in Christian Latin also meant the water of baptism (3rd century) and the basin that held it.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(ODE 2010) Hoad and Ayto think it may have come into Old English through [[sga|fant]] or ''font'', which would explain the Old English spelling with ''a''.^(Hoad 1986)^(Ayto 2005) In later use it was reinforced by Anglo-Norman [[m|xno|funt]] and Old French [[m|fro|font]], used chiefly of the baptismal font.^(OED 2026) The OED traces the Latin noun to the same Indo-European base as [[sa|धन्वति|tr=dhanvati|t=runs, flows]].^(OED 2026) The same Latin noun gave English [[fount]] and, through French, [[fountain]].^(Ayto 2005)^(Partridge 1966)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The receptacle in a church that holds the water for baptism: Old English, in a pastoral letter on the celebration of Mass at vigils;^(OED 2026) Barnhart dates the word to about 1000.^(Barnhart 1988) Etymonline calls it late Old English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The plural ''fonts'' was used in the same sense from Old English until 1877.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) The sense "spring, fountain, source" is also Old English, and in modern use it is chiefly figurative, for a source that supplies something in abundance;^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) Etymonline calls it poetic.^(Etymonline) From 1542 the word was applied to a stoup of holy water at a church entrance,^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) and since 1871, chiefly in North America, to the oil reservoir of a lamp.^(OED 2026)^(SOED 2002) Johnson (1755) defined it as the stone vessel for baptismal water and quoted Richard II: "No, not that name was given me at the font".^(Johnson 1755) Between 1620 and 1815 ''to stand at font'' for someone meant to be their godparent,^(OED 2026) and in 1652–59 a verb ''font'' meant to name a person or thing.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – the baptismal font.^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * Old English – a spring or fountain; later chiefly figurative.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1542 – a holy-water stoup.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1620 – ''to stand at font'', to be a godparent (until 1815).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1652 – the verb, to name (until 1659).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1871 – the oil reservoir of a lamp (chiefly North American).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large [[basin]], usually of stone and standing on a pedestal, that holds the water used in [[baptism]].^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+ # A [[receptacle]] for [[holy water]].^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # A source from which something flows in abundance: ''Her grandmother was a font of family stories.''^(MWU 2024)^(OED 2026)

+ # (archaic, poetic) A [[fountain]] or [[spring]].^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)

+ # The reservoir for oil in an [[oil lamp]].^(Collins 2023)^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fontal]]

+ * [[fontlet]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|typeface}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1578, an inventory of the royal wardrobe in Scotland|origins=la fundō}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frm|fonte|t=a casting]],^(OED 2026)^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(ODE 2010) which in French meant cast iron (1477), the melting or casting of metal (1488) and, from 1567, a set of type.^(OED 2026) The French noun is formed on [[m|fr|fondre|t=to melt, cast]], either directly, by analogy with similar feminine nouns, or through an unrecorded [[la|*fundita]], the feminine past participle used as a noun;^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024) the verb continues [[la|fundō|t=to pour, melt, cast]], also the source of [[found]] "to cast metal".^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Ayto 2005) According to Etymonline the set was so called because all the letters in it were cast at the same time.^(Etymonline) The variant [[fount]] is the usual British spelling in printing.^(Dictionary.com 2016)^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cast iron: 1578, in an inventory of the Scottish royal wardrobe, a sense that is obsolete and rare;^(OED 2026) Barnhart and Etymonline also date ''a casting'' to 1578 or the 1570s.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The printing sense, a set of type of one size and style, is recorded from 1664 in a letter in Robert Boyle's correspondence;^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) Etymonline gives the 1680s and Merriam-Webster about 1688.^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) The general sense "the action of casting or founding" is found from 1754 to 1883.^(OED 2026)^(HTOED) With computer typesetting the word came to mean a set of characters of one design for composing text, in effect a typeface,^(SOED 2002) and Merriam-Webster also has a verb, to equip a type case with fonts.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1567 – French ''fonte'', a set of type.^(OED 2026)

+ * 1578 – cast iron (obsolete).^(OED 2026)

+ * 1664 – a set of type of one size and style;^(OED 2026) 1680s in Etymonline.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1754 – casting or founding (until 1883).^(OED 2026)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # (printing) A complete set of [[type]] of one size and style.^(Collins 2023)^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+ # (computing) A set of [[character|alt=characters]] of one design, used to display or print text; a [[typeface]]: ''The report is set in a plain sans-serif font.''^(SOED 2002)^(OED 2026)

+ # (obsolete) Cast iron, or the act of [[casting]] metal.^(OED 2026)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fount]]

+ * [[fountain]]

+ * [[found]]

+ * [[fondant]]

+ * [[foundry]]

+ * [[fuse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}