fons honorum

English

WOTD – 1 March 2012

Etymology

Latin: fōns (“fount, source”) + honōrum (“of honours”; the genitive plural form of honor (“honour”)) = “source of honours” ≈ “fount of honour”

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, UK) enPR: fŏnz hŏnôʹrəm, IPA^(key): /ˌfɒnz hɒˈnɔːɹəm/

Noun

fons honorum (plural fontes honorum)

1. A person who, by virtue of sovereignty, holds the exclusive right to create and confer legitimate titles of nobility and orders of chivalry.
   • 1973, Luciano Petech, Aristocracy and Government in Tibet, 1728–1959, page 27:

     In 1919 Pʻun-kʻaṅ taiji bKra-śis-rdo-rje was appointed kung, the only attempt by the Dalai-Lama to succede the defunct Chinese Ch’ing dynasty as fons honorum.

   • 2002 February 11th, Francois R. Velde, alt.talk.royalty, “Re: Fons honorum germanorum”, (see the original message)

     It doesn’t seem that the smaller or lower-ranking states behaved as fontes honorum before 1806.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:fons honorum.

Synonyms

• fount of honour

Further reading

• Fount of honour on Wikipedia.Wikipedia