Fountain or Fount?

[simont]

My wife and I have been arguing about the phrase 'Fountain of all knowledge'.  She says it's 'Fount of all knowledge'.  Can anyone tell me what the correct phrase is and for a bonus where it originates from?

Many thanks.

[Chillum]

I always thought it was "Font of all knowledge". According to the dictionary "Fount" is a variation of both font and fountain, so you're both right.

[bernardo]

I asked google.

"Fountain of all knowledge" : 2770 references
"Fount of all knowledge": 9960 references
"Font of all knowledge": 3790 references

All searches were done with the quotation marks.

[Quizmonster]

"Reason is natural revelation, whereby the eternal father of light, and fountain of all knowledge, communicates to mankind that portion of truth which he has laid within the reach of their natural facilities."

This quote is from 'An Essay Concerning Human Understanding' by John Locke, the 17th century philosopher. Clearly, he was referring to God.

[simont]

ah yes of course - that was where I first read it! ;-)  I'll tell my wife the bad news!

[Octavius]

Maybe not quite what you expected...

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-kip1.htm

[Octavius]

How did that answer get posted here?  I was in another question a second ago.......

[Papersinn]

There are more essay as well as papers on http://www.papersinn.com/