finestra

Forms

finestra f (plural finestres)^[1] Medieval documents often write fenestra, the form expected from the sound changes, in the Vides de sants rosselloneses, in Llull and in Vicent Ferrer's sermons, and in a Barcelona document as late as 1431.^[2] Today the form with fi- is general in every dialect.^[2] The DCVB records the pronunciations [fiˈnɛstɾə], [fiˈnɛstɾa], [fiˈnɛstɾo], [fiˈnestɾə] and [fiˈnestɾɛ].^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fenestra (“window”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]}

The same Latin word is Italian finestra, French fenêtre, Occitan fenèstra, Romanian fereastră, Old Spanish finiestra and Portuguese fresta.^[6]

The ⟨i⟩ of the first syllable is irregular in Catalan, where the medieval ⟨fenestra⟩ is the regular outcome; in Italian, pretonic ⟨e⟩ becomes ⟨i⟩ regularly, and the Old Spanish and Galician forms have their own explanations.^[2] Coromines does not think the change phonetic.^[2] He traces it to place names: Finestres, recorded from 947, Finestrelles, from 1011, and others are high lookout points, compared to the window of a watchtower, and since they usually stand on district or parish boundaries, Latin fines (“boundaries”) acted on them as a folk etymology, changing ⟨fen-⟩ to ⟨fin-⟩; from the place names the variant spread to the common noun.^[2] Part of Occitania has a parallel form with ⟨fi-⟩, but there the regular form prevails.^[2]

The origin of the Latin word is unknown to the OLD;^[7][1] Wiktionary takes it to be apparently Etruscan.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bruguera and the GDLC date the word to the 13th century, in the Vides de sants rosselloneses;^[5][4][2] Coromines dates the common noun to the end of that century, and it appears in Latin documents of Catalonia as a place name from the 10th.^[5][4][2] In the Vides a holy man throws a bag of gold into a house per una fenestra, at night.^[2] Llull writes of a palace hon havia moltes finestres through which the sunlight came in.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

The Costums de Tortosa regulate the windows that may be opened in party walls and over streets.^[2] Llull uses the window as an image: as windows are in a room so that the sun may show its brightness there.^[8] In the Curial e Güelfa (1440) fer finestra means to open a gap to see through, and in Roig's Spill (1460) a good wife tendrà baldes a la finestra, will keep the house shut and spend little.^[9]

Derivatives appear from the 14th century: finestrejar in Eiximenis, finestró in 1546, finestral in the 17th century, finestrer in Verdaguer c. 1900.^[5] Learned words such as defenestració were formed from the Latin.^[5] Fabra's dictionary of 1932 records tirar la casa per la finestra, to spend lavishly.^[10] The modern dictionaries add the window of a car or train, openings in anatomy and an interval in physics.^[4]

Timeline

• 947 – the place name Finestras in a Latin document.^[2]
• 1200s – fenestra in the Vides de sants rosselloneses.^[5][4][2]
• 1250–1299 – first records in CICA, in the Catalan Dialogues of St Gregory.^[11]
• 1431 – the old form fenestra in a Barcelona document.^[2]
• 1440 – the Curial e Güelfa: fehien finestra.^[9]
• 1460 – Roig's Spill: baldes a la finestra.^[9]
• 1932 – Fabra records tirar la casa per la finestra.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A window, an opening in a wall to let in light and air: La cuina té una finestra que dona al pati.^[12][4]
2. The casement or frame with shutters or panes that closes the opening: Tanca la finestra, que fa fred.^[12][4]
3. The window of a car, train or other vehicle.^[4]
4. (anatomy) A name for various openings in organs, such as the oval and round windows of the ear.^[4][3]
5. A gap in the teeth.^[3]
6. (physics) An interval of time, frequency or energy within which something is transmitted or detected.^[4]

Word family

• finestral
• finestró
• finestreta
• finestrella
• finestrejar
• finestrer
• finestrada
• enfinestrat
• entrefinestra

Related words

• defenestració
• Latin fenestra
• Occitan fenèstra
• French fenêtre

Usage notes

Tirar la casa per la finestra means to spend lavishly, to spare no expense.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 3, 1036
3. ^ a b c d Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. finestra
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Enciclopèdia Catalana, Gran diccionari de la llengua catalana (GDLC), Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana; online edition, https://www.diccionari.cat, p. s.v. finestra
5. ^ a b c d e f Bruguera, Jordi (1996), Diccionari etimològic, Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, p. 401
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 3242
7. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Nou glossari general lul·lià (NGGL), Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull, Universitat de Barcelona, https://nggl.ub.edu, p. s.v. finestra
9. ^ a b c Faraudo de Saint-Germain, Lluís, Vocabulari de la llengua catalana medieval, online edition, Barcelona: Institut d'Estudis Catalans, p. s.v. finestra
10. ^ a b c Fabra, Pompeu (1932), Diccionari general de la llengua catalana, Barcelona: Llibreria Catalònia, p. s.v. finestra
11. ^ Torruella, Joan; Pérez Saldanya, Manuel; Martines, Josep (dirs.), Corpus Informatitzat del Català Antic (CICA), https://www.cica.cat, p. s.v. finestra
12. ^ a b Institut d'Estudis Catalans (2007), Diccionari de la llengua catalana, 2nd ed. (DIEC2), Barcelona: Edicions 62; online edition with later updates, https://dlc.iec.cat, p. s.v. finestra