Tramontane (Catalan: Tramuntana, Croatian: Tramontana, Greek: Τραμουντάνα, Spanish: Tramontana, Italian: Tramontana, Slovene: Tramontana) is a classical name for a northern wind. The exact form of the name and precise direction varies from country to country. The word came to English from Italian tramontana, which developed from Latin trānsmontānus (trāns- + montānus), "beyond the mountains/across the mountains", referring to the alps in the North of Italy. The word has other non-wind-related senses: it can refer to anything that comes from, or anyone who lives on, the other side of mountains, or even more generally, anything seen as foreign, strange, or even barbarous.
In Catalonia the wind is called the Tramuntana. The wind also lends its name to the Serra de Tramuntana in Majorca.
In Croatia it is called Tramontana.
The tramontane in France is a strong, dry cold wind from the north (on the Mediterranean) or from the northwest (in lower Languedoc, Roussillon, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. ). It is similar to the mistral in its causes and effects, but it follows a different corridor; the tramontane accelerates as it passes between the Pyrenees and the Massif Central, while the Mistral flows down the Rhone Valley between the Alps and the Massif Central.