The story
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂weh₁-
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂wḗh₁ti
- Proto-Indo-European*h₂wéh₁n̥ts
- Proto-Germanic*windaz
- Old Norsevindr
- Proto-Indo-European*h₃ekʷ-
- Proto-Germanic*augô
- Proto-Norse*ᚨᚢᚷᚨ (*auga)
- Old Norseauga
- Old Norsevindauga
- Middle Englishwyndowe
- English todaywindow
From Middle English wyndowe, wyndown, from Old Norse vindauga (“window”, literally “wind-eye; wind-hole”), equivalent to wind + eye. Cognate with Scots windae and windock, Faroese vindeyga, Norwegian Bokmål vindu, Norwegian Nynorsk vindauge, Danish vindue, archaic Swedish vindöga, Elfdalian windog. Displaced native Old English ēagþȳrel (literally “eye hole”) (the rare direct descendant is eyethurl (“window, pupil, etc.”)). The “windows” among early Germanic peoples were just unglazed holes (eyes) in the wall or roof that permitted wind to pass through .
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.