defenestration

[KatyBr]

a good word we haven't seen in the WOTD in a long time

de·fen·es·tra·tion (d-fn-strshn)
n.
An act of throwing someone or something out of a window.



[From de- + Latin fenestra, window.]

Kt
(there are always somethings best defenestrated, eh?)

[frank]

"La rencontre au château de Prague tourne au pugilat. Deux gouverneurs détestés du roi, Wilhelm Slavata et Jaroslav Martinic, sont jetés par la fenêtre avec leur domestique Fabricius. Les victimes tombent heureusement sur un tas de fumier et s'en tirent sans mal !"

Defenstration doesn't always damage the health, but it can cause (30 year of) war...

Frank

[Brazilian dude]

It's amazing how Latin fenestra evolved so much to become Portuguese fresta (a slit).

Brazilian dude

[Flaminius]

From French fenêtre, I assume the first 'e' in fenestra had the tendency to weeken or disappear. The resultant fnestra may have easily become frestra/fresta in languages whose R is a trill.

Fl,am

[Brazilian dude]

Rrright.

Brazilian dude

[M. Henri Day]

Dropping a vowel here and there, the Latin term gave rise to, e g, Swedish «fönster», German «fenster». Interestingly enough, the terms used in Norway and Denmark (but not, as we have seen, in Sweden), «vindu» and «vindue», resp, are both derived from the same old Norse term, ««vindauga» - an eye (opening) to the wind - which gave rise to English «window»....

[Brazilian dude]

And there's also Dutch venster.

Brazilian dude

[tcward]

And southern redneck winder.

(Surely you've all seen the Microsoft Winders joke before...)

-Tim

[M. Henri Day]

Is that what the late, great Ray Charles meant by «Georgia on my mind» ?...

Henri

[eberntson]

This was a popular work with me in the 70s, I learned the word from Monty Pythons Flying Circus; there is an episode where a lot of people self defenestrate.

However, I just watched a video about the word (see Merriam Webster), and it mentioned the Defenestration of Prague I & II. The 2nd, contributed to the start of the 30 Years War, see Frank's reference above. This is a case where truth is stranger than fiction.

[Perry Lassiter]

Years ago my then teen daughter watched an afternoon sit-com of some sort where a lead character kept getting murdered. (Shades of Fearless Fosdick with swiss cheese holes all over him: He killed me, but it wasn't fatal.) i happened to walk through the house that afternoon and witnessed Natalie (?) being defenestrated. TV has no problems resorting to either defenestration or resurrection.

[Slava]

I don't recall just where I saw it, but when a major figure at Microsoft recently and suddenly departed, the headline referred to his defenestration.

[Philip Hudson]

eberntson: Thanks for pulling this chestnut out of the embers of past Good Word Suggestions. Although I had never seen the word defenestration before, I immdiately knew it's meaning. Strange though, my mind went to German to get window (fenster) instead of the Latin (fenestra). My Celtic ancestors would be ashamed of me.

[Slava]

By-the-by, here's where the Good Doctor gave it his special treatment: http://www.alphadictionary.com/goodword ... fenestrate

Interesting sense of humor, no?

[eberntson]

@Philip: your welcome!
@Slave: Like a perfect dry martini, humor is best with only a airing of vermouth and a twist. Drier the better.