The subSTRATe of this overveiw is STRATus as in TISSUE, MEMBRANES and EPITHELIA in general. The motive has to do with TRAGus (an insignificant cartilage anterior to the ear canal) and the realization that DRAGons not only DRAG victims to be swallowed in one TRAGo or gulp but also cause other sorts of eSTRAGo or devastations.

Clouds are stratified gases below the stratosphere.

In essence, STRATus, STRATa and STREets convey ideas of layer plus compacted matter. Hard matter implicitly is three dimensional and therefore can be described in a STEReometric manner. Note that STRA and STER for "layer or gathered" and "hard" as in STERn or STERnum tend to migle.

Stern of a ship captured from a Stern King.	A ship like bow or "proa" column as a component of a frigid modern architectural style.

In a narrow sense, STRATum points to "bed cover" or what can be spread in layers or LAMINa. To avoid becoming deviated or aSTRay, this avenue or STRada will not be explored. We LAMEnt, that to some, our excuse may appear to be LAME.

When the wood strata of the stern of ships failed, some voyages ended "on the rocks".

In a broader sense, STR engenders an unpleasant sound found in many unpleasant words such as STRoke STRict, STRike, STRip, STRangulate, STRanger, STRidor and deSTRuction. Adding an ER or ARI to ST points to STARIj, STEIRA and STERnor, terms in Ukrainian and Latin for old person, STERility and the decay associated with aging.

In medical parlance, STRATa refers to all sorts of cellular and acellular sheets of compacted matter. Of interest is the ADAMANTINUM or dental enamel which is very hard or ADAMANTINE or DIAMOND like. It was Zeus who decreed that an ADAMANTINE foundation should anchor a floating island to provide a LITer to his beloved LETo so she could deliver their twins Diana and Apollo. This stratum of divine matter  became "terra firme" and now is known as the island of Delos.

The combined vistas opened by STRA or STER are rather broad. In Celtic, STRAh is valley; STRAtos in Latin points to layers of soldiers commanded by a STRAtegos or general skilled in STRAtegies and STRAtagems of war; STARI and STEReos, in Sanskrit, Greek an Ukrainian link aging with stiffness and STRAkh and ESTRago in Ukrainian and Spanish point to the fear of ruin.

A mild degree of Pectus Excavatum or sunken STERnum.

Finally, STER as in STERnum, describes a hard and wide chest plate of cartilage or bone referred to as PEKTOS, an ancient proto-European word that in modern Spanish became PECHO and PECTOral. It is notable that the PECTOral cavity or THORAX conveys ideas that it is like a costal "comb" or combination of ribs. These vistas are explored in another illustrated overview.