Etymologically
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strano

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Pronunciation

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

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