Etymograph

English

stratum

Stratum comes from Latin strātum ‘a spread for a bed, coverlet, quilt, blanket’, from Proto-Indo-European *str̥néh₃ti ‘to strew’, and ultimately from *sterh₃- ‘to spread’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-1‘to spread’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*str̥néh₃ti1‘to strew’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stornō1reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsternō2‘spread’next step skipped: Latin strātus
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstrātum2‘a spread for a bed, coverlet, quilt, blanket’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1884stratum2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Latin sterno
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English stratum
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1884, Alfred Ronald Conkling, Appleton's Guide to Mexico: “It is built of alternate strata of brick and…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-Wiktionary, Latin sterno‘to spread’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*str̥néh₃tiWiktionary, Latin sterno‘to strew’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*stornōWiktionary, Latin sternoreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsternōWiktionary, English stratum‘spread’next step skipped: Latin strātus
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEstrātumWiktionary, English stratum‘a spread for a bed, coverlet, quilt, blanket’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1884stratumWiktionary, English stratum. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1884, Alfred Ronald Conkling, Appleton's Guide to Mexico: “It is built of alternate strata of brick and…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- ‘to spread’

street, straw, strand, sternum, stroma, 11 more

through Latin sternō ‘spread’

prostrate, 2 more

Today it means

noun One of several parallel horizontal layers of material arranged one on top of another.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “stratum”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin sterno. 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 *sterh₃- / stratum

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