substratum

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a layer of material, especially rock or soil, lying beneath another layer

   The builders found a firm substratum of clay below the loose soil.

2. 2
   noun

   an underlying basis, condition, or influence beneath something more visible

   Shared customs formed a cultural substratum beneath the political divisions.

3. 3
   noun

   a language displaced by another language but leaving features in the language that replaces it

   Linguists found evidence of a Celtic substratum in the regional vocabulary.

A learned borrowing from New Latin substratum, the neuter of Latin substratus, "strewn or spread beneath," from substernere. The Latin verb combines sub-, "under," with sternere, "to spread or strew." Figurative and linguistic uses preserve the idea of an underlying layer.

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