Etymologically
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fenêtre

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (France): /fə.nɛtʁ/[1]
  • IPA (France): /fnɛtʁ/[1]
  • IPA: [fə.nɛ.tʁə][1]
  • IPA: /fə.nɛːtʁ/[1]

Forms

fenêtre f (plural fenêtres)[1] Old and Middle French fenestre; the spelling fenêtre dates from the 16th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fenestre, inherited from Latin fenestra (“opening in a wall; window; the frame closing it”).[3][4][5][6] The Latin word is of unknown origin: the Romans linked it with Ancient Greek φαίνω (phaínō, “to bring to light”), a connection Rey calls historically fictitious but perhaps an influence on its senses, and the theory of an Etruscan origin is not well supported.[4] Wiktionary marks an Etruscan source as possible.[1]

Cognate with Occitan fenestra and Catalan finestra, Walloon has finièse.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

As fenestre it is found about 1135 in the Couronnement de Louis, meaning a window, an opening in a wall.[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century it also named the opening of a shop onto the street, and the shop itself, as in Villon's clorre fenestre “to shut up shop”.[4][7] Charles d'Orléans has the figurative sense “passage” about 1433 (les fenestres de mes yeulx).[3] Furetière (1690) records its use in anatomy and for a blank space left in a deed or manuscript.[3] The phrase faire la fenêtre, of a prostitute showing herself at a window, is found in 1789.[8]

By a shift from space to time, about 1965 it came to mean, in spaceflight, the period during which a launch is possible.[4] Derivatives include fenêtrer (before 1188, as a past participle “with windows”), porte-fenêtre (1676) and défenestrer “to throw out of a window” (1863).[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1135 – Fenestre in the Couronnement de Louis.[3]
  • c. 1433 – Figurative “passage”, in Charles d'Orléans.[3]
  • 16th century – The spelling fenêtre; the sense “shop” goes out of use.[2][4]
  • 1676 – Porte-fenêtre.[4]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the anatomical sense and the blank space in a document.[3]
  • 1789 – Faire la fenêtre, of a prostitute.[8]
  • c. 1965 – A launch window in spaceflight.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A window: an opening in a wall to let in light and air, with its frame: ouvrir la fenêtre, regarder par la fenêtre.[9][10]
  2. The glazed sash that closes such an opening.[11]
  3. A window of a vehicle: un coin fenêtre in a train.[9]
  4. A blank space left in a surface or a written document; the clear panel of an envelope.[11][3]
  5. (anatomy) Fenêtre ovale, fenêtre ronde: openings in the inner wall of the middle ear.[11]
  6. (mountaineering) A narrow gap in a ridge.[11]
  7. (spaceflight) A launch window.[4]

Word family

  • fenêtrage
  • contre-fenêtre
  • fenêtrer
  • porte-fenêtre
  • défenestrer

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 452a
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)