strong

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*strengʰ-“taut, stiff, tight”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*strangaz“tight, strict, straight, strong”
3. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*strang“severe, strict, rigorous, strong”
4. Old English · inherited fromstrang“strong”
5. Middle English · inherited fromstrong, strang
6. English todaystrong

From Middle English strong, strang, from Old English strang (“strong”), from Proto-West Germanic *strang (“severe, strict, rigorous, strong”), from Proto-Germanic *strangaz (“tight, strict, straight, strong”), from Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“taut, stiff, tight”). Cognate with Scots strang (“strong”), West Frisian strang, string (“strict, harsh, severe, stern, stark, tough, strong, intense”), Dutch streng (“strict, severe, tight”), dialectal Dutch strang (“tight, strict, powerful, intense, mighty, strong”), German streng (“strict, severe, austere”), Danish and Norwegian streng (“strong, hard”), Norwegian strang (“strong, harsh, bitter”), Swedish sträng, strang (“severe, strict, harsh”), Faroese and Icelandic strangur (“strict”), Latin stringō (“tighten”). Related to strict and string.

Words from the same roots