fenêtre French · revision 17349

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1135, Couronnement de Louis (fenestre)|origins=la fenestra}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (France): /fə.nɛtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (France): /fnɛtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: [fə.nɛ.tʁə]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /fə.nɛːtʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fenêtre''' ''f'' (plural fenêtres)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old and Middle French [[m|fro|fenestre]]; the spelling ''fenêtre'' dates from the 16th century.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|fenestre]], [[inh|la|fenestra|t=opening in a wall; window; the frame closing it]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 452a) The Latin word is of unknown origin: the Romans linked it with [[grc|φαίνω|tr=phaínō|t=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.^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary marks an Etruscan source as possible.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[oc|fenestra]] and [[ca|finestra]], Walloon has [[m|wa|finièse]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As ''fenestre'' it is found about 1135 in the ''Couronnement de Louis'', meaning a [[m|en|window]], an opening in a wall.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==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”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) Charles d'Orléans has the figurative sense “passage” about 1433 (''les fenestres de mes yeulx'').^(TLFi) Furetière (1690) records its use in anatomy and for a blank space left in a deed or manuscript.^(TLFi) The phrase ''faire la fenêtre'', of a prostitute showing herself at a window, is found in 1789.^(BHVF)

+

+ By a shift from space to time, about 1965 it came to mean, in spaceflight, the period during which a launch is possible.^(DHLF 1992) Derivatives include ''fenêtrer'' (before 1188, as a past participle “with windows”), ''porte-fenêtre'' (1676) and ''défenestrer'' “to throw out of a window” (1863).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1135 – ''Fenestre'' in the ''Couronnement de Louis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1433 – Figurative “passage”, in Charles d'Orléans.^(TLFi)

+ * 16th century – The spelling ''fenêtre''; the sense “shop” goes out of use.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1676 – ''Porte-fenêtre''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1690 – Furetière records the anatomical sense and the blank space in a document.^(TLFi)

+ * 1789 – ''Faire la fenêtre'', of a prostitute.^(BHVF)

+ * c. 1965 – A launch window in spaceflight.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|window]]: an opening in a wall to let in light and air, with its frame: ''ouvrir la fenêtre'', ''regarder par la fenêtre''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The glazed [[m|en|sash]] that closes such an opening.^(Larousse)

+ # A window of a vehicle: ''un coin fenêtre'' in a train.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A blank space left in a surface or a written document; the clear panel of an envelope.^(Larousse)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(anatomy)'' ''Fenêtre ovale'', ''fenêtre ronde'': openings in the inner wall of the middle ear.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(mountaineering)'' A narrow gap in a ridge.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(spaceflight)'' A launch window.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fenêtrage]]

+ * [[contre-fenêtre]]

+ * [[fenêtrer]]

+ * [[porte-fenêtre]]

+ * [[défenestrer]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[défenestration]]

+ * [[la|fenestra]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}