fons

See also: fōns, föns, føns, Föns, and Fons

English

Noun

fons

1. plural of fon

Verb

fons

1. third-person singular simple present indicative of fon

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈfons]

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin fundus.

Noun

fons m (invariable)

1. bottom (lowest part)
2. background (part of picture)

Related terms

• fonera
• fundar

Etymology 2

Verb

fons

1. second-person singular present indicative of fondre

Further reading

• “fons” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “fons”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “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”). See also Danube.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /fons/, [fõːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fons/, [fɔns]

Noun

fōns m (genitive fontis); third declension

1. water issuing from the ground, a spring
2. (poetic, usually in the plural) the water or waters of a river, sea etc.
3. (by metonymy) a well, fountain or font (a large container where water pools)
   1. (Christianity) the baptismal font (a pool or basin of water used for baptism)
4. (by extension) the origin or source of a river (also figuratively)
   1. 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

• fontānus
• fontāna
• fonticulus

Descendants

• Aragonese: fuent
• 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
  • Fala: fonti f
  • Galician: fonte f
  • Portuguese: fonte f
• Sicilian: funti
• Spanish: fuente f
• Venetan: fontego
• → Old English: font
  • Middle English: font
    • 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...)
    
• “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

1. bottom (lowest part)

Related terms

• fondar

Descendants

• → Basque: funts

Romansch

Alternative forms

• funs (Rumantsch Grischun, Sursilvan)
• fùns (Sutsilvan)
• fuonz (Puter)
• fuond (Vallader)

Etymology

From Latin fundus.

Noun

fons m (plural fons)

1. (Surmiran) field, land, soil, ground.