fenestra Latin · revision 644

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [fɛˈnɛs.tra]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [feˈnɛs.tra]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fenestra''' ''f'' (genitive fenestrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ A contracted form ''festra'' is quoted from Ennius,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Paulus' epitome of Festus says that the ancients said ''festra'' for ''fenestra''.^(TLL) Editors read ''fenstra'' in some lines of Plautus for the metre.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) The TLL notes a likeness to the Etruscan family name Fnesci and the Latin place name Fenestella,^(TLL) and Wiktionary takes it to be a borrowing from Etruscan, though nothing is known of the meaning of the Etruscan base.^(Wiktionary) Köbler also mentions a possible Etruscan source.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ Older scholars linked it with [[grc|φαίνω|tr=phaínō|t=to show, shine]];^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Walde derived it from the same root through a noun meaning “light”, and thought a borrowing from an unattested Greek word possible but no likelier.^(Walde 1906) Saalfeld lists it as a loan from [[m|grc|φανήστρα|tr=phanḗstra]].^(Saalfeld 1874) Ancient writers too sought a Greek source: Nonius derived it from the Greek for “to show”, and Isidore of Seville from the Greek word for light, saying that a window brings light into the house.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus on,^(Köbler 2010) meaning a [[m|en|window]]: in the ''Casina'' someone is to be shut up fast in a window recess.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Roman window was at first closed with wooden shutters, curtains or lattices, and only under the Empire with sheets of mica;^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) ''fenestra'' could also mean the shutter itself.^(OLD 2012) The word was soon used of other openings: a [[m|en|loophole]] for missiles in a wall or tower, a hole or breach,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) the holes pierced in the ears for earrings,^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) and, in Cicero, the senses as the windows of the mind.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Figuratively it meant an opening or opportunity, as in Terence's “what a window you have opened to wickedness!”^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Medieval Latin used it for a shop window or shop,^(Niermeyer 1976) for the revolving hatch through which things were passed into a convent, and for a cupboard in a church where the Eucharist was kept.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a window.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it figuratively for an opening or opportunity.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero calls the senses the windows of the mind.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it for loopholes left for artillery in a tower.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Vergil uses it for a breach.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1227 – A council at Trier orders each nunnery to appoint a nun to keep the ''fenestra'', the hatch.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|window]]; a window [[m|en|shutter]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|loophole]] for discharging missiles.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # An opening, hole or [[m|en|breach]]; a pierced hole in the ear.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' An opening, [[m|en|opportunity]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A shop window, a shop.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A revolving hatch in a convent; a tabernacle for the Eucharist.^(Du Cange 1883)

+

+ ==Descendants==

+ * Italian: [[m|it|finestra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Portuguese: [[m|pt|fresta]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Romanian: [[m|ro|fereastră]], [[m|ro|fereastă]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Catalan: [[m|ca|finestra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Occitan: [[m|oc|fenèstra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Galician: [[m|gl|fiestra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Romansh: [[m|rm|fanestra]], [[m|rm|finiastra]], [[m|rm|fnestra]], [[m|rm|faneastra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Dalmatian: [[m|dlm|finiastra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Aromanian: [[m|rup|fireastrã]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Old French: [[m|fro|fenestre]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Old Spanish: [[m|osp|finiestra]]^(Wiktionary)

+ * English: [[m|en|fenestra]] ''(borrowed)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fenestella]]

+ * [[fenestrō]]

+ * [[fenestrula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|defenestration]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}