# fenestra
## English
### 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)
* (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)
* 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: /feˈnes.tra/

### Noun

fenestra (plural fenestras)
* 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: /feˈnes.tra/, [fɛˈnɛs̠t̪rä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /feˈnes.tra/, [feˈnɛst̪rä]

### Noun

fenestra f (genitive fenestrae); first declension
* a window, an opening for light,
    Haec domus quattuor fenestrās habet.This house has four windows.
* a breach
* a loophole, an arrowslit
* an orifice, inlet
* an opportunity, opening, occasion, window of opportunity

#### Declension

First-declension noun.

#### Derived terms

* fenestella
* fenestrula

#### Descendants

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

### References

* ↑ Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1938) “fenestra”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume 1, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 478

### 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: /feˈnɛs.tɾɐ/
* (Brazil) IPA: /feˈnɛs.tɾɐ/
** (Rio de Janeiro) IPA: /feˈnɛʃ.tɾɐ/
** (Southern Brazil) IPA: /feˈnɛs.tɾa/
* (Portugal) IPA: /fɨˈnɛʃ.tɾɐ/
* Hyphenation: fe‧nes‧tra

### Noun

fenestra f (plural fenestras)
* (dated, formal) window
    Synonym: janela

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from Latin fenestra.

### Noun

fenestra f (plural fenestre)
* 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: /feˈnestɾa/ [feˈnes.t̪ɾa]
* Rhymes: -estɾa
* Syllabification: fe‧nes‧tra

### Noun

fenestra f (plural fenestras)
* (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 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10