Fountains

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A structured source from which water spurts into the air
2. A decorative or functional water feature often found in gardens or public spaces
3. A source of inspiration or creativity that flows abundantly and continuously

Etymology: "Fountains" is the plural of "fountain," which is a noun for a structure that sprays water into the air. The singular has a much older meaning that is still relevant: a source of water rising naturally from the ground, a spring. Its roots go back to Latin "fons," meaning exactly that, a source or spring. The word reached English through Old French "fontaine," which in turn came from Late Latin "fontana," a noun built from the adjective "fontanus," meaning "belonging to a spring." In other words, the Latin word for a spring was first turned into a descriptive adjective and then into a noun for the spring itself, and English inherited that chain of meaning through French. The leap from a natural spring to an ornamental structure that shoots water upward came later, as people began building basins and channels to display and control the flow of water. The plural "fountains" therefore names a human-made feature that still carries the original sense of water welling up from its source.

Synonyms: springs, jets, waterworks, sources, streams