The story
- Proto-Indo-European*ster-
- Proto-Indo-European*sterh₃-
- Proto-Indo-European*strew-
- Proto-Germanic*strawą
- Proto-West Germanic*strau
- Old Englishstrēaw
- Proto-Germanic*bazją
- Proto-West Germanic*baʀi
- Old Englishberġe
- Old Englishstrēawberġe
- Middle Englishstrawberie
- English todaystrawberry
From Middle English strawberie, strawbery, from Old English strēawberġe, corresponding to straw + berry. Of various theories advanced to explain the name, the two most plausible are: 1. the fact that wild strawberries grow on straw-like runners (or stolons) (compare Norwegian Nynorsk stråbær, denoting cranberries, which grow in a similar way); 2. the practice, still common in parts of Europe, of gathering strawberries by stringing them on a straw or stalk.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.