Etymologically
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strength

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /streŋkθ/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English strengthe, inherited from Old English strengþu (“strength, bodily power, vigour, firmness”),[2][3] formed from strang (“strong”) and the noun suffix -th,[3][4] from Proto-Germanic *strangitho,[2][3] the source also of Old High German strengida.[2][3] It is from Proto-Indo-European *strenk- (“tight, narrow”), the root of string.[2] It is to strong as length is to long.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Before 899, in Alfred's translation of Bede,[3] and about 900 in the OED, of moral firmness.[5] Middle English strengthe is from 1106, in the Peterborough Chronicle.[3]

Semantic evolution

Old English used it of bodily power, vigour, fortitude, manhood, violence and moral resistance.[2] Military power is from before 1122,[5] and the power of a fortified place to resist attack from about 1375.[5] The power of a material to resist force without breaking is from about 1384,[5] and legal validity from about 1418.[5] Strengthen is from about 1378, in Wycliffe.[3]

Timeline

  • before 899 – strength, vigour.[3]
  • 1106 – Middle English strengthe.[3]
  • before 1122 – military power.[5]
  • c. 1375 – of a fortification.[5]
  • c. 1378 – strengthen.[3]
  • c. 1384 – power to bear strain.[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The quality of being strong; physical power.
  2. The power to resist attack or strain; durability.
  3. Firmness of mind or character.
  4. A strong point or asset.
  5. Degree of intensity or concentration: full strength.
  6. The number of people in a group, especially an army: at full strength.

Word family

  • industrial-strength
  • strengthen
  • strengthless
  • superstrength
  • understrength
  • field strength
  • magnetic field strength
  • tensile strength

Usage notes

Strength refers especially to physical, mental or moral robustness, while power is the ability to act, might great power, energy stored power, and force power exerted.[6]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin