An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Straße

by Friedrich Kluge

Straße, feminine, ‘street, road,’ from the equivalent Middle High German strâȥe, feminine, Old High German strâȥa, feminine; a common West Teutonic term; compare Dutch straat, Anglo-Saxon strœ̂t, English street, Old Swedish strata, ‘road,’ Modern Swedish stråt (Old Icelandic strœ́ti and Old Swedish strœti are derived from Old English). The form strâta, ‘street,’ was borrowed in the 1st century (perhaps contemporaneously with Pfund, Sack, Münze, &c.) from Middle Latin strâta (scil. via, literally ‘paved road’) before the Latin t was softened to d in Romance; compare Italian strada, Spanish estrada, French (dialectic) étrée, to which OIr, sráth, ‘street,’ is allied.