Where does “fountainhead” come from?
Fountainhead combines English fountain (from Old French fontaine, from Latin fontanus) with English head (from Old English hēafod, from Proto-Indo-European kauput-), literally denoting the source or origin point of a spring or stream.
fountainhead (English): A spring that is the source of a river; An...
Definitions
- A spring that is the source of a river; An...
Ancestry of “fountainhead”, step by step
fountainhead traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English head
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | head | The part of the body of an animal or human which... |
| 2 | English | -y | Added to nouns and adjectives to form adjectives... |
| 3 | Middle English | -y | Designates an adjective, in many cases formed by... |
| 4 | Old English | -iġ | -y, -ic |
| 5 | Proto-West Germanic | -g | Forms adjectives from nouns and verbs with a... |
| 6 | Proto-Germanic | -gaz | -y |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | -ḱos | -y, -ic |
via English fountain
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | fountain | A natural source of water; a spring; An... |
| 2 | Old French | fontaine | fountain |
| 3 | Latin | fontāna | spring, fountain, source |
| 4 | Latin | fontānus | bearing a relation to the spring or source |
| 5 | Latin | fons | a spring, a fountain; fresh water, spring water;... |
| 6 | Latin | fontis | genitive singular of fōns |