fountain

fountain
\ \ [15] Latin fons meant ‘spring of water’ (it was related to Sanskrit dhan- ‘run, flow’). The feminine form of its adjectival derivative, fontāna ‘of a spring’, came to be used in late Latin as a noun, also meaning ‘spring’, and this passed via Old French fontaine into English, still carrying its original sense ‘spring’ with it. This survives in the reduced form fount [16], which is usually used metaphorically for a ‘source’, but fountain itself has from the 16th century been mainly applied to an ‘artificial jet of water’.
\ \ Other descendants of Latin fontāna, incidentally, include Italian fontana, Romanian fîntîna, and Welsh ffynon. Fontanelle ‘space between infant’s skull bones’ [16] comes ultimately from Old French fontenelle, a diminutive form of fontaine. The underlying notion appears to be of an anatomical ‘hollow’, as if from which a spring of water would come.
\ \ Cf.⇒ FONTANELLE, FOUNT

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Fountain — (deutsch: Brunnen, Fontäne) bezeichnet: den Titel eines Filmes von Darren Aronofsky, siehe The Fountain eine Speedbootmarke aus den USA, Fountain Powerboats Fountain Creek, Fluss in Colorado ein Kunstobjekt von Marcel Duchamp, siehe Fountain… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fountain — Foun tain (foun t[i^]n), n. [F. fontaine, LL. fontana, fr. L. fons, fontis. See 2d {Fount}.] 1. A spring of water issuing from the earth. [1913 Webster] 2. An artificially produced jet or stream of water; also, the structure or works in which… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Fountain — Fountain, CO U.S. city in Colorado Population (2000): 15197 Housing Units (2000): 5219 Land area (2000): 13.997070 sq. miles (36.252243 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.014924 sq. miles (0.038652 sq. km) Total area (2000): 14.011994 sq. miles… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Fountain, CO — U.S. city in Colorado Population (2000): 15197 Housing Units (2000): 5219 Land area (2000): 13.997070 sq. miles (36.252243 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.014924 sq. miles (0.038652 sq. km) Total area (2000): 14.011994 sq. miles (36.290895 sq. km)… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Fountain, MI — U.S. village in Michigan Population (2000): 175 Housing Units (2000): 89 Land area (2000): 1.007521 sq. miles (2.609467 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 1.007521 sq. miles (2.609467 sq. km) FIPS… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Fountain, MN — U.S. city in Minnesota Population (2000): 343 Housing Units (2000): 137 Land area (2000): 0.829750 sq. miles (2.149042 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.829750 sq. miles (2.149042 sq. km) FIPS… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • Fountain, NC — U.S. town in North Carolina Population (2000): 533 Housing Units (2000): 246 Land area (2000): 0.967525 sq. miles (2.505879 sq. km) Water area (2000): 0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km) Total area (2000): 0.967525 sq. miles (2.505879 sq. km)… …   StarDict's U.S. Gazetteer Places

  • fountain — early 15c., spring of water that collects in a pool, from O.Fr. fontaine natural spring (12c.), from L.L. fontana fountain, spring (Cf. Sp., It. fontana), from noun use of fem. of L. fontanus of a spring, from fons (gen. fontis) spring (of… …   Etymology dictionary

  • fountain — [fount′ n] n. [ME < OFr fontaine < LL fontana < fem. of L fontanus < fons (gen. fontis), spring, prob. < IE base * dhen , to run, flow > Sans dhanáyati, (he) runs] 1. a natural spring of water 2. the source or beginning of a… …   English World dictionary

  • fountain — ► NOUN 1) an ornamental structure in a pool or lake from which a jet of water is pumped into the air. 2) literary a natural spring of water. 3) a source of something desirable. ► VERB ▪ spurt or cascade like a fountain. ORIGIN Old French fontaine …   English terms dictionary

  • Fountain — (spr. Faunten), Grafschaft im Staate Indiana (Nordamerika), 18 QM.; Flüsse: Wabash River u. Coal Creek; Boden eben, mit Waldungen u. Prairien; fruchtbar; Producte: Mais, Weizen, Hafer, Steinkohlen, Eisen; der Wabash Eriekanal durchschneidet die… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

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