English
substratum
Substratum comes from Latin substernō ‘to strew, scatter, spread out or under’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃-.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-‘to spread, extend, stretch out’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubsternōas substrātus, nominalisation of neuter‘to strew, scatter, spread out or under’
- New Latinc. 1500–1900substrātum
- Englishearliest quotation 1847substratum
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-‘to spread, extend, stretch out’root as named
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsubsternōas substrātus, nominalisation of neuter‘to strew, scatter, spread out or under’
- New Latinc. 1500–1900substrātum
- Englishearliest quotation 1847substratum
Earliest quotation: 1847, editorial staff, Painting on Glass: “..; in this case it became necessary to employ…”
Proto-Indo-European *upó ‘up; from below’
Proto-Italic *supo ‘under’
Latin sub ‘under, beneath, below’
English sub-
Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- ‘to spread’
Proto-Indo-European *str̥néh₃ti ‘to strew’
Proto-Italic *stornō
Latin sternō ‘spread’
Latin strātum ‘a spread for a bed, coverlet, quilt, blanket’
English stratum
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- ‘to spread, extend, stretch out’
street, straw, strand, sternum, prostrate, stroma, stratus, 10 more
Today it means
noun A layer that lies underneath another.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- / substratum