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Window is first recorded in the early 13th century, and originally referred to an unglazed hole in a roof.

Window replaced the Old English ‘ eagþyrl ’, 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 ‘ fönster ’, or German ‘ Fenster ’.

The use of window in English 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-18th century and fenestration is still used to describe the arrangement of windows within a façade.