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| suze
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| 455406. Thu Dec 11, 2008 8:07 pm |
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| Davini994 wrote: | | *Suze is also my fount of knowledge, so hopefully she'll be along to deny or confirm shortly. |
Originally, it was "fountain". John Locke (in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690) referred to God as being "fountain of all knowledge", while the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer calls him "fountain of all wisdom".
But it's by now rarely used in that form - "fount" and, increasingly albeit of dubious etymological soundness, "font" are rather more common. |
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| Jenny
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| 455428. Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:48 pm |
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A little learning is a dangerous thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring;
There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.
According to the OED Pieria is "a district in northern Thessaly, the reputed home of the muses." So Pierian is used as an adjective in reference to poetry and learning. I confess I thought it was a fountain... |
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| Lukecash
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| 458301. Tue Dec 16, 2008 3:14 am |
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| suze wrote: | | Davini994 wrote: | | *Suze is also my fount of knowledge, so hopefully she'll be along to deny or confirm shortly. |
Originally, it was "fountain". John Locke (in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 1690) referred to God as being "fountain of all knowledge", while the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer calls him "fountain of all wisdom".
But it's by now rarely used in that form - "fount" and, increasingly albeit of dubious etymological soundness, "font" are rather more common. |
"Fountain of _____" is actually still very common in the U.S. Font labels the different styles of letters used in typesetting. (Yay for my profession!) |
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