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Origin and history of font

font(n.1)

"water basin," especially used in baptism, late Old English, from Latin fons (genitive fontis) "fountain" (see fountain), especially in Medieval Latin fons baptismalis "baptismal font." The word is sometimes used poetically for "a fountain; a source."

font(n.2)

"complete set of characters of a particular face and size of printing type," 1680s (also fount); earlier "a casting" (1570s); from French fonte "a casting," noun use of fem. past participle of fondre "to melt," from Latin fundere (past participle fusus) "to melt, cast, pour out" (see found (v.2)). So called because all the letters in a given set were cast at the same time.

also from 1680s

Entries linking to font

found(v.2)

"to cast metal," late 14c., originally "to mix, mingle," from Old French fondre "pour out, melt, smelt" (12c.), from Latin fundere (past participle fusus) "to melt, cast, pour out," from nasalized form of PIE root *gheu- "to pour." Meaning "to cast metal" is from 1560s. Related: Founded; founding.

fountain(n.)

early 15c., "spring of water that collects in a pool," from Old French fontaine "natural spring" (12c.), from Medieval Latin fontana "fountain, a spring" (source of Spanish and Italian fontana), from post-classical noun use of fem. of Latin fontanus "of a spring," from fons (genitive fontis) "spring (of water)," according to Watkins from PIE root *dhen- (1) "to run, flow" (source also of Sanskrit dhanayati, Old Persian danuvatiy "flows, runs").

The extended sense of "artificial jet of water" (and the structures that make them) is recorded by c. 1500. Hence also fountain-pen (by 1823), so called for the reservoir that supplies a continuous flow of ink. "A French fountain-pen is described in 1658 and Miss Burney used one in 1789" [Weekley].

Fountain of youth is attested by 1798.

"Did you never hear of the 'Fountain of Youth'?" asked Dr. Heidegger, "which Ponce de Leon, the Spanish adventurer, went in search of two or three centuries ago?" [Hawthorne, "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment," 1837]
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More to explore

face
c. 1300, "the human face, a face; facial appearance or expression; likeness, image," from Old French face "face, countenance, look, appearance" (12c.), from Vulgar Latin *facia (source also of Italian faccia), from Latin facies "appearance, form, figure," and secondarily "visage,
case
early 13c., "what befalls one; state of affairs," from Old French cas "an event, happening, situation, quarrel, trial," from Latin casus "a chance, occasion, opportunity; accident, mishap," literally "a falling," from cas-, past-participle stem of cadere "to fall, sink, settle do
agate
for seals, etc., and the notion of smallness is preserved in typographer's agate (1838), the U.S. name of the 5.5-point font...
W
expressed by the runic character wyn (Kentish wen), which looked like this: ƿ (the character is a late addition to the online font...
Gothic
"of the Goths," the ancient Germanic people, "pertaining to the Goths or their language," 1610s, from Late Latin Gothicus, from Gothi, Greek Gothoi (see Goth). Old English had Gotisc. As a noun, "the language of the Goths," from 1757. Gothic was used by 17c. scholars to mean "Ger
cafe
"coffee-house, restaurant," 1802, from French café "coffee, coffeehouse," from Italian caffe "coffee" (see coffee). The beverage was introduced in Venice by 1615 and in France by 1650s by merchants and travelers who had been to Turkey and Egypt. The first public European café mig
basin
"large shallow vessel or dish used chiefly to hold water or other liquid," c. 1200, from Old French bacin (11c., Modern French bassin), from Vulgar Latin *baccinum (source also of Spanish bacin, Italian bacino), from *bacca "water vessel," perhaps originally Gaulish (but OED dism
italic
"type of printing with lines sloping to the right," 1610s, from Latin italicus "Italian, of Italy," from Italia (see Italy). So called because it was introduced in 1501 by Aldus Manutius, printer of Venice (who also gave his name to Aldine), and first used in his edition of Virgi
sans-serif
also sanserif, "printing type without finishing cross-lines on the main strokes," 1830, from French sans "without" (see sans) + English serif (1841), earlier ceref (1827). This is perhaps from Dutch and Flemish schreef "a line, a stroke," a noun related to schrijven "to write," a
type
late 15c., "symbol, emblem," from Latin typus "figure, image, form, kind," from Greek typos "a blow, dent, impression, mark, effect of a blow; figure in relief, image, statue; anything wrought of metal or stone; general form, character; outline, sketch," from root of typtein "to

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