Defenestration - the act of throwing someone out of a window. Though it need not necessarily result in death, famous examples in popular culture and history often result in the death of the defenestrated.
Examples in popular culture include the Comedian's death by defenestration that kicks off the events of Alan Moore's classic graphic novel The Watchmen, and also the death of Jedi Master Mace Windu, who is defenestrated by Anakin Skywalker after having his arm cut off.
In history, Jacopo Pazzi was defenestrated, after the ruler of Florence, Lorenzo de Medici (The Magnificent) discovered a conspiracy led by Pazzi to assassinate him. This was mirrored in the events of Thomas Harris' novel Hannibal, when Hannibal Lecter defenestrates a Florentine policeman, coincidentally a distant decendant of Pazzi, who sought to betray Lecter and claim a bounty for Lecter's capture.
The Czechs seem to be the most strongly associated with the act of defenestration, with two notable incidents taking place from the windows of Prague Castle itself, in 1419 and 1618. In the latter case though, those thrown from the windows landed on a pile of manure in a dry moat and survived, an incident which was seen as a miracle. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk also died in 1948 after falling from a bathroom window at the Ministry, and although it was claimed to have been a suicide, it was likely to have been a defenestration carried out by the Communist party.
Defenestration does have a certain ring to it. Must be the echoes with castration.
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3 comments:
Haha why the sudden interest? Thanks for an interesting genealogy of the word anyhoo. Of all the ways used by the medievals to assassinate a person, this must be one of the oddest ones! I guess if defenestration were that prevalent (to warrant a word for the act), the easy way out would have been to line your building's exterior with mattresses. Or trapeze nets disguised as lawns?
it does sound like castration, actually... hahaha. i actually think the funniest pop culture illustration of defenestration is in the monty python sketch (was it from the meaning of life?) where you had two office workers occasionally glancing out the window to see their colleagues from the upper floor going past =p
Fenetre is French for window defenetre is either no window anti window or out window (french 1&2 is slightly rusty) so defenestration is out the window {thank rooster teeths Burnie burns the rum I'm drinking and monsiour grabowski for the French tibit of the day ourivia
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