Talk:fensterln
The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for cleanup (permalink).
This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.
What a strange definition. ~Eloquio (talk) 08:56, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
- Unchanged since 2005! I can see what the user's on about I'll change it. Renard Migrant (talk) 18:00, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
- IMO this is clean now. - -sche (discuss) 19:16, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
Etymology[edit]
The current etymology is a mere surface analysis. It is not the case that it follows the definition. Rather the definition follows the supposed etymology, which looks like it might be a folk etymology. I am pretty sure that windows (Fenster) are not prerequisite for a sneak peak under the sheats. A good etymology would offer precise date, location and original quotation, but this is missing and not to be expected for slang.
Alternatively, it may be a reinterpretation of stehlen "2. (reflexive) to skulk, to move secretly" as in the current idiom sich davon stehlen. If "davon" is univerbated from da + von, is it imaginable that an older idiom involved only "von" (v being homophone with f for all intents and purposes in High German), akin to Slavic po-, distantly comparable to highly conflated and polysemous ver- in German. If so, an accurate explanation would be desirable, especially with regards to the first element, but perhaps also with regard to the unsolved mystery of fenestra.
On the other hand, cp. defenestrate. 2A00:20:6042:AFD4:15A6:17FB:6FC0:DAA0 17:04, 25 December 2020 (UTC)