finestra

Forms

finestra f (plural finestre, diminutive finestrèlla or finestrétta or finestrìna or finestrìno m, augmentative finestróna or finestróne m, pejorative finestràccia, derogatory finestrùccia or finestrùcola)^[1] The archaic and regional form is Old Italian fenestra, which Sabatini–Coletti call Latinising.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin fenĕstra (“window; opening in a wall”).^[5][6][7][1] The word is panromance: French fenêtre, Occitan fenestra, Catalan finestra, Old Spanish hiniestra, Portuguese fresta (“skylight”), Sardinian fenèstra (“niche in a wall”) and Romanian fereastră.^[6][8][9] Modern Spanish uses ventana instead, from viento (“wind”).^[6][9] The Latin word was also borrowed into Old Irish feinester and gave German Fenster.^[10]

The origin of the Latin noun is uncertain.^[5][11] It had a variant Latin festra (“small opening”), quoted from Ennius, and editors read fenstra in Plautus.^[11][6][1] DELI and Wiktionary think it may be Etruscan, from an unrecorded Etruscan *fnestra, and DEI suggests that the Etruscan form could itself be Indo-European, from a root meaning “to blow”.^[5][1][10] Nocentini takes the short variant as a hint of an original form from the root of offendō (“to strike, hurt”), a window being first an opening in a defensive wall for shooting arrows, as with feritoia and French meurtrière.^[6] Devoto found no Indo-European connections.^[12]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Giacomino Pugliese, early in the 13th century, for an opening in the wall of a building that lets in air and light, with the shutters that close it.^[5][7] His poem recalls the lady who came down to him “through the window of the palace” (per la finestra de lo palazo).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Petrarch used the plural for the eyes (o belle et alte et lucide finestre).^[3] Diminutives followed: finestrella (late 13th century, as fenestrella in the Novellino) and finestrino (1547 as fenestrino, 1554), which from 1824 named the window of a carriage and later that of other vehicles.^[5] Defenestrazione (before 1892) and defenestrare (before 1923) come from a 17th-century Latin word coined for the Defenestration of Prague in 1618.^[6]

In 1942 the word is recorded in journalism for a short boxed item that interrupts a column of text.^[5] In computing it names an area of the screen, a calque of English windows according to Devoto–Oli.^[2][3] In bureaucratic and journalistic language it has come to mean a time window, especially the period in which a worker entitled to a seniority pension can actually draw it.^[7][4] A Tuscan proverb says of misfortune chi non l'ha all'uscio, l'ha alla finestra “if it isn't at your door, it's at your window”.^[13]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses finestra.^[5][4]
• Late 13th century – Fenestrella appears in the Novellino.^[5]
• 1547 – Trissino uses fenestrino.^[5]
• 1824 – Finestrino is used for the window of a carriage.^[5]
• Before 1892 – Defenestrazione is recorded.^[6]
• 1942 – The journalistic sense “boxed item” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A window: an opening in the outer wall of a building that lets in air and light, usually with a frame, panes and shutters, and also the frame and panes themselves: Apri la finestra, qui dentro non si respira.^{[7][2][3][14][1]}
2. (figurative, humorous) The gap left by a missing tooth.^[7]
3. Any gap or opening in a surface, and in geology a large opening in a nappe.^[3]
4. (printing, journalism) A space left for an illustration, or a short boxed item in a newspaper.^[7][3][5]
5. (computing) A framed area of the screen in which a program or document is shown, and which can be opened, closed, moved and resized.^[7][3][15]
6. (bureaucracy, journalism) A time window, especially the period in which a worker entitled to a seniority pension can retire.^[7][4]
7. (archaic, in the plural) The eyes.^[3]

Word family

• finestrella
• finestrino
• finestrone
• finestrato
• controfinestra

Related words

• defenestrare
• defenestrazione
• Latin fenestra
• French fenêtre
• German Fenster

Usage notes

Common phrases are stare alla finestra (to look on without taking part), buttare i soldi dalla finestra (to throw money away) and the proverb o mangiar questa minestra o saltar questa finestra “take it or leave it”.^[2][14][16] A porta finestra is a French window opening onto a balcony or terrace.^[16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
6. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
10. ^ a b Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 1647
11. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ a b Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
15. ^ Wikizionario (Italian Wiktionary), it.wiktionary.org
16. ^ a b Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana