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I had that "a-ha" moment not at first by learning that "fenêtre" means "window", but later when I learned the German word is "Fenster".
by ghewgill 6mo ago
I had that "a-ha" moment not at first by learning that "fenêtre" means "window", but later when I learned the German word is "Fenster".
- dismalaf 6mo agoOr defenestrate...
- cryptonector 6mo agoA uniquely... English word, that.
- throw0101a 6mo agoIt originated in Prague due to two incidents: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration#Origin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration#Origin * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague
- ithkuil 6mo agoAlso used in Italian and presumably in many other languages. Like with any word, it's use in colloquial form may vary from generation to generation, from subculture to subculture etc
- QuercusMax 6mo agoNot at all. It's just the Latin prefix "de" (out of) plus "fenester" meaning window. Not an English word except by borrowing.
- cryptonector 6mo agoThe joke was that [to my then knowledge] it's not used in Romance languages, but it is used in English.
- QuercusMax 5mo agoI believe the term originates with this historical event: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague And if you believe Wiki, it was used originally in Middle French.
- dismalaf 6mo agoIs it? I know of that word in at least 3 languages.
- edgyquant 6mo agoI love that the existence of this word implies being thrown out of a window was so common it required its own word
- UltraSane 6mo agoPeople used to empty chamber pots by throwing them out the window.
- embedding-shape 6mo ago> but later when I learned the German word is "Fenster". Swedish word for it is strikingly similar, but with a hint of being more "hip and trendy restaurant in gentrified neighborhood": Fönster.
- f1shy 6mo agoIn italian finestra
- _0xdd 6mo agoI know this because every Christmas Eve I hear Hans Gruber say "schiessen den fenster".
- ahartmetz 6mo agoIt comes from Latin fenestra. People are throwing around lots of languages in this subthread, but it needs to be said that the circonflex indicates an omitted s from the Latin original. Maybe there are cases where the original isn't Latin, but I've never noticed one, and French does not have many words of non-Latin origin. I'm not sure if English speakers commonly know that, but English is a rare case of thoroughly mixed origins.