stramă

Forms

stramă f (plural strame)^[1]

Etymology

The Academy dictionaries form it from Romanian s- + tramă.^[2][3]

Tiktin instead makes it a postverbal noun from Vulgar Latin *extrāmō (“to unravel”), and DER agrees: the noun would come from a lost verb ⟨*străma⟩, as in destrăma.^[4][5] Scriban also derives it from ⟨*a străma⟩.^[6] Wiktionary takes this view as well, from trāma (“weft”).^[1] DEX calls the origin unknown and only compares the same verb.^[7]

Sardinian istramare (“to unravel”), in the Logudorese dialect, has the same prefixed verb.^[5][8] Aromanian has the verb as Aromanian strãmedz (“to unravel”).^[9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tiktin's first record is Polizu's dictionary of 1857.^[4] Earlier, the related Strămătură is a personal name in a 16th-century document, and Stanul Stramei in a 17th-century one.^[10] MDA2 begins with a figurative use in Asachi's fables (1862), „prin strama frunzelor” “through the web of the leaves”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The word means a thread pulled from a fabric, lint, and by extension a rag;^[3] a nu avea stramă pe el is to be very poor.^[3][2] In folk healing, those who went to fetch herbs took a sign from the sick: „o stramă, un petec, un ciucure de la bete” “a thread, a patch, a tassel from a sash”.^[4][2] In north-western Muntenia the form strană means the warp on the loom.^[3][11] In the Hațeg region it is coloured wool for weaving or embroidery.^[12][2] The derivative strămătură means a ravelling and also dyed wool.^[5]

Timeline

• 16th century – Strămătură, a personal name.^[10]
• 17th century – Stanul Stramei, a personal name.^[10]
• 1857 – stramă in Polizu's dictionary.^[4][2]
• 1862 – a figurative stramă in Asachi's fables.^[3]
• 1915 – stramă “coloured wool” in the Hațeg glossary.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. (old and regional) A thread pulled out of a fabric; lint, ravelling.^[7][3][1]
2. A rag.^[3]
3. (Muntenia, in the form strană) The warp on the loom.^[3][11]
4. (Transylvania) Coloured wool for weaving or embroidering.^[3][12]

Word family

• strămătură

Usage notes

The plural is strame, also strămi and strămuri; variants are stram and strană.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Academia Română (1965–2010), Dicționarul limbii române (DLR), serie nouă, tom I–XIX, București: Editura Academiei Române, p. s.v. stramă
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 2, 997
4. ^ a b c d Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. stramă
5. ^ a b c Ciorănescu, Alexandru (1958–1966), Diccionario etimológico rumano, La Laguna: Universidad de La Laguna (Romanian ed.: Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române, București: Saeculum, 2001), p. s.v. stramă
6. ^ Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 1248
7. ^ a b DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 1055
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8847
9. ^ Papahagi, Tache (1963), Dicționarul dialectului aromân, general și etimologic, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 979
10. ^ a b c Constantinescu, N. A. (1963), Dicționar onomastic romînesc, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. s.v. stramă
11. ^ a b Bulgăr, Gheorghe; Constantinescu-Dobridor, Gheorghe (2002), Dicționar de arhaisme și regionalisme, 2 vols., București: Saeculum Vizual, p. s.v. stramă
12. ^ a b c Densusianu, Ovid (1915), Graiul din Țara Hațegului, București: Socec, p. 334