Window – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A window is a transparent or translucent opening in a wall, door or vehicle that allows the passage of light and, if not closed or sealed, air and sound.[1] Windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent material. Windows are held in place by frames. Many glazed windows may be opened, to allow ventilation, or closed, to exclude inclement weather.[2]

The word window originates from the Old Norse 'vindauga', from 'vindr wind' and 'augaeye', i.e., wind eye. In Norwegian Nynorsk and Icelandic the Old Norse form has survived to this day (in Icelandic only as a less used synonym to gluggi), in Swedish the word vindga remains as a term for a hole through the roof of a hut, and in the Danish language 'vindue' and Norwegian Bokml 'vindu', the direct link to 'eye' is lost, just like for 'window'. The Danish (but not the Bokml) word is pronounced fairly similarly to window.

Window is first recorded in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a roof. Window replaced the Old English eagyrl, which literally means 'eye-hole,' and 'eagduru' 'eye-door'. Many Germanic languages however adopted the Latin word 'fenestra' to describe a window with glass, such as standard Swedish 'fnster', or German 'Fenster'. The use of window in English is probably because of 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-18th century and fenestration is still used to describe the arrangement of windows within a faade. Also, words such as "defenestration" are in use, meaning to throw something out of a window.

From Webster's 1828 Dictionary: Window, n. [G. The vulgar pronunciation is windor, as if from the Welsh gwyntdor, wind-door.][3]

The earliest windows were just holes in a wall. Later, windows 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. In the Far East, paper was used to fill windows.[4]

The Romans were the first known to use glass for windows, a technology likely first produced in Roman EgyptIn Alexandria ca. 100 AD, cast glass windows, albeit with poor optical properties, began to appearbut these were small thick productions, little more than blown glass jars (cylindrical shapes) flattened out into sheets with circular striation patterns throughout. It would be over a millennium before a window glass became transparent enough to see through clearly, as we think of it now.

Over the centuries techniques were developed to shear through one side of a blown glass cylinder and produce thinner rectangular window panes from the same amount of glass material. This gave rise to tall narrow windows, usually separated by a vertical support called a mullion. Mullioned glass windows were the windows of choice among European well-to-do, whereas paper windows were economical and widely used in ancient China, Korea and Japan. In 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 were used as early as the 14th century.[5] Noted science historian, author and television show host/producer James Burke attributes the rapid deforestation of Great Britain in the late 1500s to the uptick in production of glazed windows as well as iron cannon production (1st Cast in 1547). He writes further this gave rise to coal for fuel, which spurred iron production, requiring more coal, and more iron, then steam engine pumps, canals... and more iron; all because windows became a middle class commodity in the latter days of the little ice age, one large factor among several leading to the deforesting English woodlands, and the switch over to a coal economy.

Modern-style floor-to-ceiling windows became possible only after the industrial plate glass making processes were perfected. Modern windows are usually filled with glass, although a few are transparent plastic.[4]

A window that cannot be opened, whose function is limited to allowing light to enter (Unlike an unfixed window, which can open and close). Clerestory windows are often fixed. Transom windows may be fixed or operable. This type of window is used in situations where light or vision alone is needed as no ventilation is possible windows without the use of trickle vents or overglass vents.

One sash is movable (usually the bottom one) and the other fixed. This is the earlier form of sliding sash window, and is also cheaper.[4]

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Window - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia