Etymograph

English

stracciatella

Stracciatella comes from Italian stracciare ‘to tear or rip flesh’, from Latin extractus ‘extracted, removed, eradicated, prolonged’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰregʰ-1‘to run, to drag, to pull’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahō1‘to drag’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrahō2‘to extract, remove’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextractus2‘extracted, removed, eradicated, prolonged’past participle form of extrahō
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*extractiāre2reconstructed
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentstracciare3as stracciato‘to tear or rip flesh’
  7. Italianc. 1300–presentstracciatella3
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1991stracciatella3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin extraho
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Italian stracciare
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English stracciatella
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1991, Stephen Fry, London: Heinemann: “‘I had the happy notion of adding an egg,’…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*dʰregʰ-Wiktionary, Latin extraho‘to run, to drag, to pull’uncertain
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEtrahōWiktionary, Latin extraho‘to drag’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextrahōWiktionary, Italian stracciare‘to extract, remove’
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEextractusWiktionary, Italian stracciare‘extracted, removed, eradicated, prolonged’past participle form of extrahō
  5. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*extractiāreWiktionary, Italian stracciarereconstructed
  6. Italianc. 1300–presentstracciareWiktionary, English stracciatellaas stracciato‘to tear or rip flesh’
  7. Italianc. 1300–presentstracciatellaWiktionary, English stracciatella
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1991stracciatellaWiktionary, English stracciatella. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1991, Stephen Fry, London: Heinemann: “‘I had the happy notion of adding an egg,’…”

The story

For further information, see the Italian entry.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- ‘to run, to drag, to pull’

train, draw, draft, drag, retreat, distraction, contraction, draught, abstraction, retract, subtraction, entreat, abstractly, 47 more

through Latin trahō ‘to drag’

contract, treat, attractive, portrait, attraction, abstract, extract, traction, trait, tractor, tract, tram, trattoria, 34 more

through Latin extrahō ‘to extract, remove’

extraction, 1 more

Today it means

noun An Italian soup consisting of a meat broth and small shreds of an egg-based mixture, prepared by drizzling the mixture into boiling broth and stirring.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stracciatella”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin extraho, Italian stracciare. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *dʰregʰ- / stracciatella

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