Both English Straße as well as English street go back to Late Latin strata (from Latin sternere, to cover, strew, I think). The superficially similar English strait, meaning strict or narrow, however, ultimately originates from Latin strictus (from stringere) by some derivation through Old French that is not entirely clear but also not terribly important to me. Romance cognates of strait abound, in any case.

Now, sensibly, the English word for a narrow, strict (one might say, strait) waterway connecting two larger bodies of water is strait, as in Strait of Gibraltar. Just as sensibly, a German word for the same thing is Meerenge, literally a sea strait.

Much less sensibly, the Strait of Gibraltar (Bonifacio, Malakka, you name it) in German is not called Meerenge von Gibraltar or even Gibraltarenge, but instead Straße von Gibraltar.

I find this odd, in particular considering the lack of a German word Meer(es)straße. This leads me to suspect that the appearence of Straße in the above uses is the product of an obvious mistranslation of strait. I'm using the English word strait here, but of course, there is a host of cognates in Romance languages that are perhaps much more likely to be the true culprits when it comes to the question of which word exactly was wrongly translated to German. This is just a detail.

On the other hand, I can see how one might be tempted to call a strait a Straße (after all, it is a path typically used by some kind of traffic), so I'm not sure just how odd to find this, and I'm wondering if it is actually a wrong translation of strait or a genuinely new term for Meerenge.

Therefore my question: Is the Straße in Straße von Gibraltar a street, or is it a bastardized strait?

Edit: All Romance languages exclusively use the respective cognate of strait when it comes to describing straits. Germanic languages, apart from English, on the other hand, use their cognate of street for straits, which always sounds close to strait. Slavic and Turk languages that do not have a word for street that is sounds just like strait do not use the analogy to a street for describing a strait, but different analogies stressing the aspect of narrowness. This supports the hypothesis of a wrong translation.

Both German Straße as well as English street go back to Late Latin strata (from Latin sternere, to cover, strew, I think). The superficially similar English strait, meaning strict or narrow, however, ultimately originates from Latin strictus (from stringere) by some derivation through Old French that is not entirely clear but also not terribly important to me. Romance cognates of strait abound, in any case.

Now, sensibly, the English word for a narrow, strict (one might say, strait) waterway connecting two larger bodies of water is strait, as in Strait of Gibraltar. Just as sensibly, a German word for the same thing is Meerenge, literally a sea strait.

Much less sensibly, the Strait of Gibraltar (Bonifacio, Malakka, you name it) in German is not called Meerenge von Gibraltar or even Gibraltarenge, but instead Straße von Gibraltar.

I find this odd, in particular considering the lack of a German word Meer(es)straße. This leads me to suspect that the appearence of Straße in the above uses is the product of an obvious mistranslation of strait. I'm using the English word strait here, but of course, there is a host of cognates in Romance languages that are perhaps much more likely to be the true culprits when it comes to the question of which word exactly was wrongly translated to German. This is just a detail.

On the other hand, I can see how one might be tempted to call a strait a Straße (after all, it is a path typically used by some kind of traffic), so I'm not sure just how odd to find this, and I'm wondering if it is actually a wrong translation of strait or a genuinely new term for Meerenge.

Therefore my question: Is the Straße in Straße von Gibraltar a street, or is it a bastardized strait?

Edit: All Romance languages exclusively use the respective cognate of strait when it comes to describing straits. Germanic languages, apart from English, on the other hand, use their cognate of street for straits, which always sounds close to strait. Slavic and Turk languages that do not have a word for street that is sounds just like strait do not use the analogy to a street for describing a strait, but different analogies stressing the aspect of narrowness. This supports the hypothesis of a wrong translation.

Both English Straße as well as English street go back to Late Latin strata (from Latin sternere, to cover, strew, I think). The superficially similar English strait, meaning strict or narrow, however, ultimately originates from Latin strictus (from stringere) by some derivation through Old French that is not entirely clear but also not terribly important to me. Romance cognates of strait abound, in any case.

Now, sensibly, the English word for a narrow, strict (one might say, strait) waterway connecting two larger bodies of water is strait, as in Strait of Gibraltar. Just as sensibly, a German word for the same thing is Meerenge, literally a sea strait.

Much less sensibly, the Strait of Gibraltar (Bonifacio, Malakka, you name it) in German is not called Meerenge von Gibraltar or even Gibraltarenge, but instead Straße von Gibraltar.

I find this odd, in particular considering the lack of a German word Meer(es)straße. This leads me to suspect that the appearence of Straße in the above uses is the product of an obvious mistranslation of strait. I'm using the English word strait here, but of course, there is a host of cognates in Romance languages that are perhaps much more likely to be the true culprits when it comes to the question of which word exactly was wrongly translated to German. This is just a detail.

On the other hand, I can see how one might be tempted to call a strait a Straße (after all, it is a path typically used by some kind of traffic), so I'm not sure just how odd to find this, and I'm wondering if it is actually a wrong translation of strait or a genuinely new term for Meerenge.

Therefore my question: Is the Straße in Straße von Gibraltar a street, or is it a bastardized strait?

Both English Straße as well as English street go back to Late Latin strata (from Latin sternere, to cover, strew, I think). The superficially similar English strait, meaning strict or narrow, however, ultimately originates from Latin strictus (from stringere) by some derivation through Old French that is not entirely clear but also not terribly important to me. Romance cognates of strait abound, in any case.

Now, sensibly, the English word for a narrow, strict (one might say, strait) waterway connecting two larger bodies of water is strait, as in Strait of Gibraltar. Just as sensibly, a German word for the same thing is Meerenge, literally a sea strait.

Much less sensibly, the Strait of Gibraltar (Bonifacio, Malakka, you name it) in German is not called Meerenge von Gibraltar or even Gibraltarenge, but instead Straße von Gibraltar.

I find this odd, in particular considering the lack of a German word Meer(es)straße. This leads me to suspect that the appearence of Straße in the above uses is the product of an obvious mistranslation of strait. I'm using the English word strait here, but of course, there is a host of cognates in Romance languages that are perhaps much more likely to be the true culprits when it comes to the question of which word exactly was wrongly translated to German. This is just a detail.

On the other hand, I can see how one might be tempted to call a strait a Straße (after all, it is a path typically used by some kind of traffic), so I'm not sure just how odd to find this, and I'm wondering if it is actually a wrong translation of strait or a genuinely new term for Meerenge.

Therefore my question: Is the Straße in Straße von Gibraltar a street, or is it a bastardized strait?

Edit: All Romance languages exclusively use the respective cognate of strait when it comes to describing straits. Germanic languages, apart from English, on the other hand, use their cognate of street for straits, which always sounds close to strait. Slavic and Turk languages that do not have a word for street that is sounds just like strait do not use the analogy to a street for describing a strait, but different analogies stressing the aspect of narrowness. This supports the hypothesis of a wrong translation.