strambo

Forms

strambo (feminine stramba, masculine plural strambi, feminine plural strambe)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin strambus (“squinting”), recorded in the Latin glosses, a variant of classical strabus (“squint-eyed”).^[2][3][4][5] The Latin adjective was borrowed from Ancient Greek στραβός (strabós, “squinting”).^[2][6][1] The nasal was added as in sambūcus beside sabūcus and Late Latin sambatum beside sabbatum.^[7] Devoto explains the later sense through the idea of something lopsided and therefore abnormal.^[8]

The same Latin form gave Romanian strâmb (“crooked”), Friulian stramb, Portuguese estrambo and Old Venetian stramo (“odd, whimsical”).^[9][3] From the adjective comes strambotto, a kind of popular song, which passed into Spanish estrambote and Portuguese estramboto.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLIO's only record is in Gradenigo's Quatro Evangelii of 1399, where the word describes squinting eyes, in a figurative context.^[11] DELI's first record is in Luigi Pulci's Morgante (1483), with the sense “crooked”, of a leg.^[2][12]

Semantic evolution

The physical sense, “crooked”, of legs, eyes or anything set askew, came first.^[2][12] The figurative sense “strange, eccentric” is first dated before 1698 in Redi, who wrote of a cervello strambo, a man of little judgement.^[2][5][13] Later writers from Carlo Gozzi to Fogazzaro use it of eccentric people and their ideas and speech, now its usual meaning.^[13][14]

The feminine stramba, short for corda stramba, is a rope of plaited plant fibres, recorded as early as 1288.^[3] Dante uses strambe beside ritorte.^[15] The noun stramberia “eccentricity” is recorded before 1802.^[2]

Timeline

• 1399 – Gradenigo's Quatro Evangelii uses strambo of squinting eyes.^[11]
• 1483 – Luigi Pulci uses it of a crooked leg.^[2]
• Before 1698 – Redi uses it in the sense “odd, eccentric”.^[2]
• Before 1802 – stramberia is first recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of a person, eccentric, odd, behaving or thinking in a strange way: È un tipo strambo, ma gentile.^[14][16][17]
2. Of an idea, speech or behaviour, bizarre, unusual: un progetto strambo.^[14][16][15]
3. (uncommon) crooked, twisted; of eyes, squinting.^[14][16][18]
4. (archaic) In corda stramba, a rope of plaited, not twisted, plant fibres.^[14][16][15]

Word family

• stramberia
• strambamente
• stramba
• strambotto

Related words

• strabico
• strabismo
• Latin strabus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975)
5. ^ a b Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti, p. 955
6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3648
8. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b Tesoro della Lingua Italiana delle Origini (1997–), Opera del Vocabolario Italiano, CNR, Firenze; tlio.ovi.cnr.it
12. ^ a b Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
13. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
14. ^ a b c d e De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
15. ^ a b c Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
16. ^ 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
17. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
18. ^ Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli