In my high school German class, after we had learned that the German word for window was fenster, the teacher told us that was why defenestrate meant to throw out a window. It sounded like he made it up, and why would there be a word for that, so none of us believed him until I got a dictionary. That's my defenestration story. (Teacher didn't mention the Latin.)
Kiba, my niece speaks Latin. She took it as an elective in high school. I'd love to give her a copy of "conversational Latin"; heck, I'd love to have a copy myself! And making up words in Latin has to be the best job ever.
But if the Vatican has a need for the word airlock, I want to know what they're doing in there.
There is a historical incident called "the Defenestration of Prague" which took place in the 1600s.
I guess windows were a lot bigger in the 17th century.
Kiba, my niece speaks Latin. She took it as an elective in high school. I'd love to give her a copy of "conversational Latin"; heck, I'd love to have a copy myself! And making up words in Latin has to be the best job ever.
The book is called Conversational Latin for Oral Proficiency, runs $20 - $30 I think. (I got a huge discount because I bought it on a teachers' weekend at Borders.) It has words like "video game" in it (magnetoscopa, I think). My students and I had to make up words for projects... they were translating Dr. Seuss books into Latin and we had to make up words for things like "lumpy." Or "spotty." (Old Hat, New Hat) It was fun, and it's a great way to learn how words are put together, because you say "Okay, here's a noun that means x. To make an adjective, you take the noun and add this to it. Voila! Instant adjective!" Fun. Or at least, fun if you're a dork for etymology.
It involved murder of opposing political peeps by, yes, throwing them out of a window.
And they landed on manure, so they didn't die. Yea manure!
Holy shit (as it were), there were TWO. Two defenestrations.
[link]
You've got to admire the Czech stick-to-it-iveness. Anybody else would have stopped at one.
Sorry, I HAVE to quote this bit.
On March 10, 1948 -- a month after the establishment of a Communist-dominated government -- Jan Masaryk, Foreign Minister of Czechoslovakia (the only remaining non-socialist minister, and son of the founder of the republic) was found dead beneath the bathroom window outside of his top-floor apartment in the Czernin Palace, the Foreign Ministry building in Prague. The authorities at the time said it was a suicide (and the Czech people were privately impressed at how he had been so fastidious as to close the window after himself on his way out). While it was unclear for a long time whether he was actually murdered, in early 2004 police concluded that he was indeed assassinated and had not committed suicide. The circumstances of how he was assassinated are still unclear. This event is not usually called a defenestration of Prague.
Italics mine.
Has there ever been a regicide by defenestration?
Charles III had to step out a window to be beheaded, but they didn't behead him in the window.
OK, what are some other obscure words for murder?
