I saw someone post on a blog about a teacher who had been for him a "font of wisdom" in his high school days. "Font" looked wrong to me. Was it supposed to be a "fount of wisdom?"
I had to look it up.
A "font" these days is most commonly used to refer to a typeface, such as a serif, sans serif, or Helvetica or Times New Roman. That origin comes from the late 16th century from French fonte, from fondre "to melt" in reference to the process of casting or founding the actual pieces of type once used in printing.
This didn't seem to play any role in the wisdom expression.
Font can also mean a structure in a church that contains water for baptism ceremonies. The water in a baptismal font is still, but the water in a fountain spurts with abundance. So, fount (a fountain shortening similar to mount for mountain) is more symbolically fitting for the sense of someone or something putting forth an abundance of knowledge or wisdom.
A fount of knowledge is used to something, but more likely someone, who contains all the answers or information.
Saying font for fount might also be considered a mondegreen - that's the topic another post.
