[ccmay]

Another author who can't do any research

Actually, it is you who needs to do a little more research. In many European languages, the word for "source" and the word for "fountain" or "spring" are one and the same.

The English word "source", in fact, comes from the French word "source", which means "spring." Foreign film aficionados will recall the movie "Manon des sources", which was translated into English as "Manon of the Spring."

In German, the words "Born", "Brunnen" and "Quelle" all signify a source of water like a spring, well or fountain. I don't know enough German to know the shades of meaning between the words, but any of them can be used in the sense that we in English would use the word "source".

"Born", I think, is a more archaic or dialectical usage that might be used poetically, in the same way that an English speaker might use the word "font" instead of "fountain" or "source".

So in the end, it is a matter of how the word is translated. Perhaps the best translation of "Lebensborn" would be "wellspring of life".

-ccm

[raybbr]

English word search for "fountain":

On click in results search further in:

	English	German
	fountain	Brunnen {m}
	fountains	Brunnen {pl}
	fountain	Fontäne {f}; Springbrunnen {m}
	fountains	Fontänen {pl}; Springbrunnen {m}
	fountain figure group	Brunnenfigurengruppe {f}
	fountain figure groups	Brunnenfigurengruppen {pl}
	fountain pen; pen	Füllfederhalter {m}; Füller {m}
	fountain pens; pens	Füllfederhalter {pl}; Füller {pl}
	fountain of youth	Jungbrunnen {m}
	basin of a fountain	Brunnenbecken {n}
	sculpture on a fountain; fountain figure	Brunnenfigur {f}
	fountain; fountain head	Quelle {f}	No mention of "born". Search for the German word "born":	On click in results search further in:

	German	English
	geboren {adj}	born
	Ich wurde 1964 geboren.	I was born in 1964.
	tot geboren	still-born
	geborene	nee; née
	Christiane von Goethe, geborene Vulpius	Christiane von Goethe, née Vulpius
	gebären; zur Welt bringen; hervorbringen {vt}	to bear {bore; born, borne}; to give birth
	gebärend; zur Welt bringend	birthing
	geboren; zur Welt gebracht	born; borne
	ich gebäre	I bear
	du gebierst; du gebärst	you bear
	sie gebiert; sie gebärt	she bears
	ich/sie gebar	I/she bore
	sie hat/hatte geboren	he/she has/had born
	ich/sie gebäre	I/she would bear
	gebier!; gebär!	bear!
	ich/er/sie wurde geboren	I/he/she was born No mention of fountain. If I were to tranlate "lebensborn" literally it would be "birth of life". That makes more sense then "fountain of life". Other searches I did brought the general meaning to be "source of life". I stand by my criticism. "Born", I think, is a more archaic or dialectical usage that might be used poetically, in the same way that an English speaker might use the word "font" instead of "fountain" or "source". We are not talking about archaic German.