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Comment by ghewgill | Hacker News Reader

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".

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It 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.

> 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.

Or defenestrate...

A uniquely... English word, that.

It originated in Prague due to two incidents:

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestration#Origin

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague

Also 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

Not at all. It's just the Latin prefix "de" (out of) plus "fenester" meaning window. Not an English word except by borrowing.

The joke was that [to my then knowledge] it's not used in Romance languages, but it is used in English.

I believe the term originates with this historical event:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenestrations_of_Prague

And if you believe Wiki, it was used originally in Middle French.

Is it? I know of that word in at least 3 languages.

I love that the existence of this word implies being thrown out of a window was so common it required its own word

People used to empty chamber pots by throwing them out the window.

I know this because every Christmas Eve I hear Hans Gruber say "schiessen den fenster".

In italian finestra

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