Springwater

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Water that flows naturally out of the ground at a spring, often prized for its purity and clean taste
2. Fresh water that rises to the surface from an underground source and emerges as a natural spring
3. Naturally occurring water that issues from the earth through a spring, typically collected for drinking

Etymology: "Springwater" is about as transparent as English compounds get: it is simply "spring" followed by "water". The "spring" here is the natural source where water rises out of the ground, a sense of the word that goes back to Old English "springan", meaning to leap up or rise forth, and which is also behind the "spring" of a coiled metal device and the season of renewal. The compound describes water that comes from such a natural outflow rather than from a well dug by hand or a pipe. Its meaning is therefore literal and concrete, tied to the place the water emerges from the earth, and it has never needed a figurative extension to be understood.

Synonyms: spring water