Interesting Words – Part 2

The defenestration window (top) at Prague Castle

The word defenestration, the act of throwing someone or something out the window, is one of the most evocative words I know. It is a word with which you can impress your friends and family; or even be useful on a quiz program. Although I am not sure how the literal meaning of the word can be employed in everyday language, a more figurative version can mean to get rid of someone (or make them lose his/her job) in a very quick manner.  

For people who study international politics, the Second Defenestration of Prague on 23 May 1618 occurred at Prague Castle. The event precipitated the Thirty Years Wars and is considered a seminal event in European history. This series of wars between Catholics and Protestants wreaked havoc across the European continent and had lasting implications for decades (even centuries) to follow. For most scholars the treaty that ended the war, the Peace of Westphalia (1648), ushered in our current international order, which is marked by the existence of sovereign states and the desecularization of world politics.