A window is an opening in an otherwise solid and opaque

surface that allows the passage of light and sometimes air. Windows are usually

glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material.

Etymology

 

The word Window originates from the Old Norse
class=SpellE>vindauga, from vindr

"wind" and auga "eye." "
class=SpellE>Vindauga" is still used in Icelandic, as well as some

Norwegian dialects to mean exactly the same thing: window. It is first recorded

in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a

roof.

 

Window replaced the Old English eag?yrl,

which literally means "eye-hole," and eagduru,

"eye-door". Most Germanic languages however adopted the Latin word
class=SpellE>fenestra to describe a window with glass, such as Swedish
class=SpellE>f'nster, or German fenster.

Notable exceptions to this, apart from English, are Danish and Norwegian, with

the English word window closely resembling the words vindue

and vindu respectively. This is probably due to the

Scandinavian influence on the English language by means of loanwords during the

Viking Age. In English the word fenester was used as

a parallel until the mid-1700s and fenestration is still used to describe the

arrangement of windows within a facade.

 

Definition and Types of Windows

 

A window is an opening in a wall that lets light and

possibly air into the room and allows occupants to see out. Primitive windows were

just holes. Later, they were covered with animal hide, cloth, or wood. Shutters

that could be opened and closed came next. Over time, windows were built that

both protected the inhabitants from the elements and transmitted light:

mullioned glass windows, which joined multiple small pieces of glass with

leading, paper windows, flattened pieces of translucent animal horn, and plates

of thinly sliced marble. Mullioned glass windows were the windows of choice

among European well-to-do, whereas paper windows were economical and widely

used in ancient China and
w:st="on">Japan. In
w:st="on">England, glass became common in the windows of

ordinary homes only in the early 17th century whereas windows made up of panes

of flattened animal horn[citation needed] were used as

early as the 14th century in Northern Britain.

Modern-style floor-to-ceiling windows became possible only after the industrial

glass making process was perfected. Evidence of glass window

panes in Italy

dates back nearly 3000 years.