stratus

Forms

strātus m (genitive strātūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is an action noun formed from Latin sternō (“to spread, strew”) + -tus, built like the past participle ⟨strātus⟩ of the same verb.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of sternō, whose present goes back to Proto-Italic *sterna- and Proto-Indo-European *st(e)r-n-h₃- (“to spread, strew”), and whose participle goes back to *strāto- and *strh₃-to-.^[3]

Cognate, through the verb, with Sanskrit स्तृणाति (str̥ṇā́ti, “to spread out, strew”) and Ancient Greek στόρνυμι (stórnumi, “to strew out”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the OLD first find it in Varro,^[3][2] in the sense of the act of spreading or strewing: Varro reports that some derived strāmentum “straw” from strātus.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the act of spreading, the word came to mean what is spread: the coverings of beds and couches, which Favorinus, quoted by Aulus Gellius, describes as adorned with gold.^[2] In the Digest it covers every kind of coverlet,^[4] and Solinus uses it of a horse-cloth.^[4]

The classical word for a cover or bed was usually strātum, of which strātus is the less common equivalent.^[4] English took stratus in 1803 as the name of a low, continuous, horizontal sheet of cloud.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of spreading or strewing.^[2][6]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius quotes Favorinus on bed coverings adorned with gold.^[2][6]
• 1st half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it of a horse-cloth.^[4][6]
• 533 AD – The Digest counts every coverlet under strātus.^[4][6]
• 1803 – English adopts stratus as the name of a type of cloud.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of spreading or strewing.^[2][4]
2. Coverings for beds or couches, a coverlet.^[2][4][1]
3. A horse-cloth.^[4]

Related words

• strātum
• strāgulum
• strāmentum
• strāgēs
• English stratus

Usage notes

Strātus is also the Latin name of Stratos, the capital of Acarnania, borrowed from Ancient Greek Στράτος (Strátos);^[1][6] Wiktionary also gives it as the name of a river in Hyrcania mentioned by Pliny.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de