fons
English
Noun
fons
- plural of fon
Verb
fons
- third-person singular simple present indicative of fon
Catalan
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Noun
fons m (invariable)
- bottom (lowest part)
- background (part of picture)
Related terms
Etymology 2
Verb
fons
- second-person singular present indicative of fondre
Further reading
- “fons”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
- “fons”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
- “fons” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “fons” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Italic *fontis, from earlier *θontis, from a Proto-Indo-European root cognate with Sanskrit धन्वति (dhanvati, “flows, runs”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *dʰónh₂-ti-s, from *dʰenh₂- (“to flow”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈfõːs]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈfɔns]
Noun
fōns m (genitive fontis); third declension
- water issuing from the ground, a spring
- (poetic, usually in the plural) the water or waters of a river, sea etc.
- (by metonymy) a well, fountain or font (a large container where water pools)
- (Christianity) the baptismal font (a pool or basin of water used for baptism)
- (by extension) the origin or source of a river (also figuratively)
- the foundation, basic principle, cause
Declension
Third-declension noun (i-stem).
singular | plural | |
---|---|---|
nominative | fōns | fontēs |
genitive | fontis | fontium |
dative | fontī | fontibus |
accusative | fontem | fontēs fontīs |
ablative | fonte | fontibus |
vocative | fōns | fontēs |
Derived terms
Descendants
- Aragonese: fuent f
- Asturian: fonte f, fuente f
- Catalan: font f
- Extremaduran: fuenti, huenti
- Franco-Provençal: font
- French: fonts m pl
- Italian: fonte f
- Leonese: fonte
- Mirandese: fuonte f
- Occitan: fònt f
- Old Galician-Portuguese: fonte f, fõte, ffonte
- Sicilian: funti
- Spanish: fuente f
- Venetan: fonte, fontego
- → Old English: font
References
- “fōns” on page 790 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “fōns, fontis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 230–231
Further reading
- “fons”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “fons”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- "fons", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- fons in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
- to draw from the fountain-head: e fontibus haurire (opp. rivulos consectari or fontes non videre)
- these things have the same origin: haec ex eodem fonte fluunt, manant
- source, origin: fons et caput (vid. sect. III., note caput...)
- to draw from the fountain-head: e fontibus haurire (opp. rivulos consectari or fontes non videre)
- “fons”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
- “fons”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
Occitan
Etymology
From Old Occitan, from Latin fundus.
Pronunciation
Audio: (file)
Noun
fons m
- bottom (lowest part)
Related terms
Descendants
- → Basque: funts
Romansch
Alternative forms
Etymology
Noun
fons m (plural fons)