Editing Defenestration (section)

{{Short description|Act of throwing someone out of a window}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2022}}
[[File:Prager.Fenstersturz.1618.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.35|[[Matthäus Merian]]'s impression of the [[Second Defenestration of Prague|1618 Defenestration of Prague]]]]

'''Defenestration''' (from [[Neo-Latin]] {{lang|la|de}} {{lang|la|fenestrā}}<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/defenestration | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108114638/https://www.lexico.com/definition/defenestration | url-status=dead | archive-date=November 8, 2020 | title=Meaning of defenestration in English | work=Oxford English Dictionary}}</ref>) is the act of throwing someone or something out of a [[window]].<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''</ref>
The term was coined around the time of an [[Defenestrations of Prague#The 1618 Defenestration of Prague|incident]] in [[Prague Castle]] in the year 1618 which became the spark that started the [[Thirty Years' War]]. This was done in "good Bohemian style", referring to the defenestration which had occurred in Prague's [[New Town Hall (Prague)|New Town Hall]] almost 200 years earlier (July 1419), and on that occasion led to the [[Hussite war]].<ref>Swedish encyclopedia NE2000, digital version, article "defenestrestrationerna i Prag"</ref> The word comes from the [[Neo-Latin]]<ref>same ref.; "New Latin" could be said to be the collection of "Latin" words which wasn't in use by the Romans</ref> ''[[wikt:de-|de-]]'' (''down from'') and ''[[wikt:fenestra|fenestra]]'' (window or opening).<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=defenestration | title=defenestration | work=Online Etymological Dictionary | first1=Douglas |last1=Harper | year=2001 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161010020911/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=defenestration | archive-date=October 10, 2016 }}</ref>

By extension, the term is also used to describe the forcible or [[wikt:summary|summary]] removal of an adversary.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=333870|title=Latin American Herald Tribune - Caracas Metromayor's 'Political Defenestration' All But Complete in Venezuela|website=www.laht.com|access-date=May 9, 2018|archive-date=April 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180414172327/http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=10717&ArticleId=333870|url-status=dead}}</ref>