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strada

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Etymology and origin of the Italian word strada

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1211, Tuscan inventory
Inherited from
Latin strata
Ultimate origin
Latin sternō

Pronunciation

Forms

strada f (plural strade)[1] Old forms include Old Italian strata, straa and strà.[2] The literary form istrada survives only after per and in.[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin strāta (“paved road”), short for Latin via strāta (“paved way”), in which strātus (“spread, paved”) is the past participle of sternō (“to spread out, pave”).[4][5][6][1] The /d/ for Latin /t/ is the voicing of northern Italy, so the word reached Tuscan from the north.[5][7][8] From the start it named a built road, as against the general word via.[8]

The same word is Old French estrée, Occitan estrada, Catalan estrada, Spanish estrada and Portuguese estrada, and it is found across the Romance languages except Romanian.[5][8] It was borrowed early into Germanic, giving Old High German strazza (modern German Straße) and Old English strǣt, the source of street.[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is an inventory of 1211 published in Castellani's collection of early Tuscan texts, with the sense “a stretch of levelled or paved ground connecting places”.[4][9] Dante uses the word in the Commedia (“Così l'avria ripinte per la strada / onde eran tratte”, so it would have driven them back along the road by which they were drawn, in the Paradiso).[10]

Semantic evolution

Within towns strada came to stand beside via for a street, and strada maestra named the main road between two places.[10][3] The figurative sense “means, way of achieving something” is recorded before 1735 in Niccolò Forteguerri.[4] Strada ferrata “railway”, preceded in 1830 by strada di ferro and later replaced by ferrovia, follows French route ferrée (1826).[4]

Derivatives include stradino “road-mender” (1551), stradone (16th century), stradale (1838, la Stradale, the traffic police, from 1956), autostrada (1924) and superstrada (1928).[4][5] French estrade “road”, in battre l'estrade “to scout”, was taken from Italian before 1439.[9]

Timeline

  • 1211 – Strada appears in a Tuscan inventory.[4]
  • Before 1439 – French estrade “road” is borrowed from Italian.[9]
  • 1551 – Stradino “road-mender” is recorded.[4]
  • Before 1735 – Forteguerri uses strada for a means to an end.[4]
  • 1830 – Strada di ferro “railway” is recorded.[4]
  • 1924 – Autostrada is recorded.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A road, a stretch of levelled, paved or asphalted ground for people and vehicles: La strada per il paese è piena di curve.[6][11][12]
  2. A street in a town; also the street as a place of life without home or care, as in ragazzo di strada and finire in mezzo a una strada.[6][11][13]
  3. The route to a place, and the distance still to cover: Abbiamo ancora due ore di strada.[6][12][14]
  4. A passage opened through something, as in farsi strada, to make one's way.[12][6]
  5. (figurative) The course of one's life, conduct; a career: Ha trovato la sua strada nella musica.[6][12][1]
  6. (figurative) A means or method of achieving something: Se questo non funziona, proveremo un'altra strada.[6][12][11]

Word family

  • autostrada
  • stradale
  • stradario
  • stradino
  • stradista
  • stradone
  • superstrada
  • instradare
  • stradina

Usage notes

Among many set phrases are codice della strada “highway code”, a mezza strada “halfway”, fare strada “to lead the way; to get on in life” and strada facendo “on the way”.[6][3][11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 259
  3. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  5. ^ a b c d e f Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
  7. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 428
  8. ^ a b c d Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
  10. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
  11. ^ a b c d Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
  12. ^ a b c d e Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
  13. ^ Vocabolario della lingua italiana Treccani (2011), Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana
  14. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli

Related etymologies

  • no · also from Latin
  • cosa · also from Latin
  • a · also from Latin
  • mio · also from Latin
  • uno · also from Latin
  • si · also from Latin
  • sapere · also from Latin
  • fare · also from Latin
Cite this entry

“Strada.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/it/strada. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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