strano

Forms

strano (feminine strana, masculine plural strani, feminine plural strane, superlative stranissimo)^[1] The older form stranio is now disused, and Umbrian still has straino.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Italian stranio, inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external, foreign; strange”), the popular outcome of the Latin word, whose learned doublet is estraneo.^[4][2][5][1] Nocentini, DEI and the GDLI explain the form through an intermediate ⟨straino⟩, with the ⟨i⟩ moved by metathesis, later simplified to ⟨strano⟩.^[2][3][6][7] The same Latin word gave French étrange, Occitan estranh, Catalan estrany, Spanish extraño and Portuguese estranho, while Romanian străin is probably of Slavic origin.^[2][8]

Latin extrāneus is formed from extrā (“outside”) with the suffix -āneus, as intrāneus is from intrā.^[9][1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

GRADIT and Nocentini date the word to the second half of the 13th century;^[5][2] DEI's first author is Jacopone da Todi, with the senses “not related by kin, foreign”.^[3] DELI's first record is in the Novellino, at the end of the 13th century, for something unlike the usual that causes amazement or suspicion.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Nocentini explains the modern meaning from “foreign”, as something foreign to one's habits.^[2] Both senses lived side by side for a long time: Dante has la lingua strana “a foreign language” and also strano “unheard of”, Boccaccio has gli strani “strangers” beside nuova e strana cosa “a new and strange thing”, and Leopardi still writes strano al mio loco natio “a stranger to my native place”.^[5][3][6] Today the senses “foreign” and “unrelated” are literary, and the word means unusual or odd.^[5]

Stranezza meant “ill-treatment” in Matteo Villani (before 1363) and “oddity” from 1821.^[4] In physics quark strano is the strange quark.^[5]

Timeline

• Second half of the 13th century – First records of the word.^[5][2]
• End of the 13th century – The Novellino uses strano for something unusual.^[4]
• Before 1363 – Matteo Villani uses stranezza for ill-treatment.^[4]
• 1821 – Stranezza “oddity” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. strange, odd, unusual: Ho sentito un rumore strano., è strano che… “it's odd that…”.^[5][10][1]
2. Of a person, behaving or thinking in an unusual way; whimsical: una persona strana.^[5][1]
3. (literary) Unrelated, extraneous; foreign.^[5]
4. (as a noun) What is odd: Lo strano è che nessuno se ne sia accorto.^[5]

Word family

• stranezza
• stranamente
• straniare
• straniamento
• stranire

Related words

• straniero
• estraneo
• Latin extraneus
• French étrange

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 3649
4. ^ a b c d e f 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 g h i j De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
6. ^ a b Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 20, 287
7. ^ a b Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier, p. 428
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier