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The Year of Defenestration (lemmy.world)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/44833191

Oddly specific.

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[–] 5 points 7 months ago* (1 child)

Interesting, the OED adds this:

Compare post-classical Latin defenestratio (1620 or earlier, although the author claims to be coining the word). Compare also Middle French, French défenestrer to throw out of a window (1564), and German Fenstersturz (1626 or earlier in this sense; lit. ‘act of throwing from a window’; also more fully Prager Fenstersturz), the usual German name for the 1618 event.

“Defenestration, N., Etymology.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/9213494086.

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  • [–] 4 points 7 months ago

    Wiktionary actually lists both words as sorta-cognates (under ‘etymology’). However, Wiktionary has a habit of not listing any dates. But, Trésor de la langue française informatisé says that the 1564 source uses the word in the meaning of removing windows of a house — while also noting that the French-root ‘défenêtrer’ should be used for this meaning instead of the Latin ‘défenestrer’.

    In the typical blunt German manner, ‘Fenstersturz’ is simply composed of ‘window’+‘fall’.

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