Bernard...Fondue is a dunking dish......The French word "fondre" means to melt. Fondue does not always mean a cheese dish.
It really is a Swiss dish. They love dunking dishes. I did look it up in my cook books and in one this is what I found (your question perked up my interest and I wanted to know the back ground of the dish. I knew what a fondue was, but U made me want to know more. Typical woman, not happy with just a little info. I have to have more.):
"There are all kinds of Fondue dishes.
The true origin of Cheese Fondue is mysteriously hidden in legends. One story says that a war ended when Fondue began: Army A had nothing left to eat but bread; Army B, nothing but milk. They patched up a temporary truce so they could dunk A's bread into B's milk, and found such mutual pleasure in dunking amicably together that they addeda bit of cheese for flavor and presto, fondue had begun. However, the French speaking part of the Swiss Alps is generally given credit for its discovery."