fenestra

See also: fenèstra

English

The wings of many insects have transparent areas, called fenestrae.

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin fenestra. Existed in Middle English as fenestre, fenester, from Old English fenester (“window”).

Noun

fenestra (plural fenestras or fenestrae or (obsolete) fenestræ)

1. (anatomy) An opening in a body, sometimes with a membrane.
   • 2010, Aina J. Gulya, Lloyd B. Minor, Michael E. Glasscock, Glasscock-Shambaugh Surgery of the Ear, page 536:

     The platinum shaft connecting the ribbon to the piston base is a rounded wire and can be easily angulated after placement of the prosthesis for optimal incus to fenestra reach.

Synonyms

• vestibular window, oval window (in reference to the human ear)

Anagrams

• Feenstra, fastener, refasten

Franco-Provençal

Noun

fenestra (plural fenestres) (Old Beaujolais, Old Dauphinois)

1. Alternative form of fenétra (“window”)

References

• fenestra in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “fenestra”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 3: D–F, page 452

Interlingua

Etymology

From Latin. Compare Italian finestra, French fenêtre, Esperanto fenestro, German Fenster, Dutch venster, Romanian fereastră, Catalan finestra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feˈnes.tra/

Noun

fenestra (plural fenestras)

1. window

Latin

Alternative forms

• fēstra

Etymology

Apparently from Etruscan *fnestra (and fēstra from Etruscan *fenstra), compare the personal name Etruscan [script needed] (fnes-ci) and the placename Latin Fensernia, but nothing is known about the meaning of the Etruscan base.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /feˈnes.tra/, [fɛˈnɛs̠t̪rä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /feˈnes.tra/, [feˈnɛst̪rä]

Noun

fenestra f (genitive fenestrae); first declension

1. a window, an opening for light,

   Haec domus quattuor fenestrās habet.

   This house has four windows.

2. a breach
3. a loophole, an arrowslit
4. an orifice, inlet
5. an opportunity, opening, occasion, window of opportunity

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	fenestra	fenestrae
genitive	fenestrae	fenestrārum
dative	fenestrae	fenestrīs
accusative	fenestram	fenestrās
ablative	fenestrā	fenestrīs
vocative	fenestra	fenestrae

Derived terms

• fenestella
• fenestrula

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: fireastrã
  • Romanian: fereastră, fereastă
    • → Romani: felyastra
• Dalmatian:
  • finiastra
• Italo-Romance:
  • Corsican: finestra
  • Italian: finestra
  • Neapolitan: fenesta
  • Sicilian: finestra, finesra
• Padanian:
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • Emilian: fnèstra
    • Lombard: fenestra, finestra, fnestra
    • Piedmontese: fnestra, fnesta
  • Romansch: fanestra, finiastra, fnestra, faneastra
  • Venetan: finestra, fenestra
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: finestra
  • Franco-Provençal: fenétra
  • Old French: fenestre (see there for further descendants)
  • Gascon: hrièsta, herièsta, hièstra, hiestra
  • Occitan: fenèstra
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Aragonese: finestra
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: fẽestra
    • Galician: fiestra
    • Portuguese: fresta
  • Old Spanish: finiestra
    • Early Modern Spanish: hiniestra
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: fënjeshtër
  • → Breton: prenestr, fenestr (or via French)
  • → Cornish: fenester
  • → English: fenestra (learned)
  • → Old Irish: seinistir
  • → Portuguese: fenestra (learned)
  • → Proto-West Germanic: *fenestr (see there for further descendants)
  • → Spanish: fenestra (learned)
  • → Welsh: ffenestr, ffenest

Further reading

• “fenestra”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fenestra”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fenestra in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• fenestra in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “fenestra”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “fenestra”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fenestra. Compare the inherited doublet fresta.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /feˈnɛs.tɾɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /feˈnɛs.tɾɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /feˈnɛʃ.tɾɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /feˈnɛs.tɾa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɨˈnɛʃ.tɾɐ/

• Hyphenation: fe‧nes‧tra

Noun

fenestra f (plural fenestras)

1. (dated, formal) window

   Synonym: janela

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fenestra.

Noun

fenestra f (plural fenestre)

1. fenestra

References

• fenestra in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

Spanish

Alternative forms

• finiestra, hiniestra

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fenestra. Doublet of hiniestra, which was inherited.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feˈnestɾa/ [feˈnes.t̪ɾa]
• Rhymes: -estɾa
• Syllabification: fe‧nes‧tra

Noun

fenestra f (plural fenestras)

1. (dated) window

   Synonym: ventana

Derived terms

• defenestración f
• defenestrar

 

Further reading

• “fenestra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28