Transcriber: Andrea McDonough Reviewer: Jessica Ruby
Mysteries of vernacular:
Window,
an opening constructed in a wall to emit light or air.
When the Scandinavian settlers invaded England
in the Middle Ages,
they brought with them a whole slew of words
whose modern descendants have become part
of our everyday vernacular.
Their word for window was related to the Old Norse word
for the same architectural feature,
vindauga.
Vindauga was a compound,
composed of two separate words:
vindr, meaning wind
and auga, meaning eye.
The word vindauga was probably quite old,
having come into being long before
windows were made of glass.
This type of metaphoric compound,
called a kenning,
was very popular in both Norse and Old English.
The beautiful literary trope was used
in the Norse word for ship,
literally "wave stead."
And, in the epic poem, "Beowulf,"
where the sea is described as a whale road
and blood is described as battle sweat
and slaughter dew.
From its literal yet lyrical beginning,
the word window has expanded
beyond its concrete definition
as a construction or design element
to be used figuratively
in phrases like the poetic
"window of opportunity."