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strange [strange 词源字典]: strange: [13] The etymological notion underlying strange is of being ‘beyond the usual bounds or boundaries’. This evolved into ‘foreign’ (which survives in the closely related French étrange) and ‘odd’. The word came via Old French estrange from Latin extrāneus ‘foreign, strange’ (source of English extraneous [17]), an adjective based on extrā ‘outward, outside’. Stranger [14] goes back to *extrāneārius, a Vulgar Latin derivative of extrāneus; and another derivative, extrāneāre ‘alienate’, produced English estrange [15].
=> estrange, extraneous[strange etymology, strange origin, 英语词源]
strangle: strangle: [13] Strangle comes via Old French estrangler and Latin strangulāre from Greek straggalān ‘strangle’. This was related to straggós ‘twisted’, and has more distant links with English string and strong – the common semantic denominator being ‘stiffness, tautness’.
=> string, strong
strata: strata: [16] Latin strātum meant ‘something laid down’. It was a noun use of the neuter past participle of sternere ‘spread out, lay down, stretch out’, which also produced English consternation [17] and prostrate [14]. Its use for the abstract concept of a ‘layer’ (in English more usually in the plural strata) is a modern Latin development. Other English words from the same source include stratify [17], stratosphere [20] (the ‘layer’ of the atmosphere above the troposphere), stratus [19] (cloud in thin ‘layer’- like form), and street.
=> consternation, prostrate, straw, street
strategy: strategy: [17] Etymologically, strategy denotes ‘leading an army’. It comes ultimately from Greek stratēgós ‘commander-in-chief, general’, a compound noun formed from stratós ‘army’ and ágein ‘lead’ (a relative of English act, agent, etc). From it was formed stratēgíā ‘generalship’, which reached English via French stratégie. Another derivative was stratēgeīn ‘be a general’, which in turn spawned stratégēma ‘act of a general’. This passed via Latin stratēgēma and French stratagème into English as stratagem [15].
straw: straw: [OE] Straw is etymologically something ‘strewn’ on the floor. The word goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *strāwam (source also of German stroh, Dutch stroo, Swedish strå, and Danish straa). This was formed from the same base as produced strew [OE], and goes back ultimately to Indo-European *ster- ‘spread’, source also of Latin sternere ‘spread out’ (from which English gets prostrate, strata, etc). Dried grain stalks were commonly scattered over floors as an ancient form of temporary carpeting, and so they came to be termed straw.
=> strata, strew
strawberry: strawberry: [OE] The origins of strawberry have long puzzled etymologists. The two most plausible suggestions put forward are that the runners put out by strawberry plants, long trailing shoots that spread across the ground, reminded people of straws laid on the floor; and that word preserves a now defunct sense of straw, ‘small piece of straw or chaff’, supposedly in allusion to the fruit’s ‘chafflike’ external seeds.
streak: streak: [OE] Streak and strike are closely related. Both come from a prehistoric Germanic base *strik-, denoting ‘touch lightly’. But whereas the connotations of strike have become more violent, streak has moved semantically from the action to the effect it produced on a surface. Originally, in the Old English period, it denoted simply a ‘mark’, but by the 16th century it had narrowed down to a long thin mark. The use of the verb streak for ‘run naked through a public place’ dates from the early 1970s.
=> strike
stream: stream: [OE] A stream is etymologically something that ‘flows’. The word comes from a prehistoric Germanic *straumaz (source also of German strom, Dutch stroom, Swedish ström, and Danish strøm). This in turn was derived from the Indo-European base *sreu- ‘flow’, which has also given English catarrh, diarrhoea, and rheumatism. Non-Germanic relatives of stream include Polish strumyk ‘brook’ and Sanskrit srotas- ‘stream’.
=> catarrh, diarrhoea, rheumatism
street: street: [OE] Etymologically, a street is a road that has been ‘spread’ – with paving stones, that is. A ‘paved’ road, in other words. The term was borrowed into prehistoric West Germanic from Latin strāta, short for via strāta ‘paved road’. Strāta was the feminine form of strātus, the past participle of sternere ‘spread out’ (source of English strata, stratify, etc). The related Germanic forms are German strasse and Dutch straat, while the term is also preserved in the Romance languages, in Italian strada, which was borrowed by Romanian as strada.
=> strata
strength: strength: [OE] Strength is of course closely related to strong. It was formed in prehistoric Germanic (as *stranggithō) from the ancestor of modern English strong. The verb strengthen was coined from it in the 13th century.
=> string, strong
stretch: stretch: [OE] Stretch comes from a prehistoric West Germanic *strakkjan (source also of German strecken and Dutch strekken). This was formed from a base *strak-, which probably also produced English straggle [14]. It is not certain where *strak- came from, but probably it was an alteration of *strak- ‘rigid’ (source of English starch and stark).

Reversal of speech sounds (here a and r) is quite common; the process is known as metathesis. The notions of ‘rigidity’ and ‘stretching’ do not appear very compatible at first sight, but it is thought that the original application of stretch was to ‘stretching the limbs’, in the sense of making them straight or ‘stiff’. Straight comes from a former past participle of stretch.
=> straggle, straight
strew: strew: see straw
strict: strict: [16] Strict was acquired direct from strictus, the past participle of Latin stringere ‘pull tight, tighten’ (source also of English prestige, strain, and stringent). The original literal sense ‘tight’ survived into English (‘She wildly breaketh from their strict embrace’, Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis 1592), but it has since given way to various metaphorical extensions.

Routed via Old French, strictus has given English strait, and English is also indebted to it for stress [14] (via the Vulgar Latin derivative *strictia) and stricture [14], not to mention prefixed forms such as constrain, constrict [18], distrain, distress, district, restrain, and restrict [16].
=> constrain, constrict, distrain, distress, district, prestige, restrain, restrict, strain, stress, stricture, stringent
stride: stride: [OE] Stride comes from a prehistoric Germanic base *strīd-, whose other descendants (German streiten and Dutch strijden ‘quarrel’, Swedish and Danish strid ‘strife, affliction’) suggest a basic underlying meaning ‘severity, great effort’. There may also be a link with English strife and strive. Straddle [16] comes from a variant of the same base. The use of the plural noun strides for ‘trousers’ dates from the late 19th century.
=> straddle
strident: strident: [17] Strident was adopted from the present participle of Latin strīdēre ‘make a harsh noise, creak’. This also produced English stridulate [19], which denotes the sound made by grasshoppers.
=> stridulate
strife: strife: see strive
strike: strike: [OE] Strike comes from a prehistoric Germanic base which denoted ‘touch lightly’ – a sense which survived into English (‘That good horse blessed he then, and lovingly struck its mane’, Sir Ferumbras 1380). The more violent modern sense ‘hit hard’ did not begin to encroach until the 13th century. The related stroke retains the original meaning, but another relative, streak, has also lost it.

All three go back to West Germanic *strīk-, *straik-, which in turn were descended from the Indo-European base *strig-, *streig-, *stroig-, source of Latin strigilis ‘tool for scraping the skin after a bath’ (acquired by English as strigil [16]). The use of strike for ‘withdraw labour’ developed in the mid-18th century (it is first recorded in the Annual Register 1768: ‘This day the hatters struck, and refused to work till their wages are raised’).

It probably comes from the notion of ‘downing’ one’s tools, as in strike a sail ‘lower a sail’.
=> streak, strigil, stroke
string: string: [OE] String is etymologically something that has been pulled ‘taut’ or ‘stiff’. It comes from a prehistoric Germanic base *strang-, denoting ‘taut, stiff’, which also produced English strong.
=> strong
stringent: stringent: see strain
strip: strip: Strip ‘narrow piece’ [15] and strip ‘remove covering’ [13] are distinct words. The former was perhaps borrowed from Middle Low German strippe ‘strap’, and may be related to English stripe [17], an acquisition from Middle Dutch strīfe. A stripling [13] is etymologically someone who is as thin as a ‘strip’. Strip ‘unclothe’ goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *straupjan, which also produced German streifen and Dutch stroopen. There was once a third English word strip, meaning ‘move quickly’, but it now survives only in the derived outstrip [16]; its origins are uncertain.
=> stripe, stripling