Geography and earth science in Italian

Lo stretto is the last entry on this page and the one with the longest history behind it. It is only the adjective stretto, narrow, standing on its own as a noun, and that adjective is the past participle of stringere, to draw tight. Under both lies the Latin strictus, and that word reached English twice by two different roads. Once through Old French, worn down in ordinary mouths, it gave « strait »: the narrow arm of sea, and the tight corner a person can be caught in — « in dire straits », « a straitjacket », « strait-laced ». Once straight out of the books, unworn, it gave « strict », and later « stringent » and « constrict ». English therefore owns the word twice and has quietly retired the plain sense of the first: nobody today calls a lane « strait ». Italian never made the split. Stretto is still the everyday word for narrow — una strada stretta, scarpe strette — and the sea passage is that same adjective with an article in front of it. One caution: « strait » is not « straight », which is an unrelated English word.