strew

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English streuen, also strewen and strowen,^[2][3][4] inherited from Old English strēowian, also strēawian and strewian,^[2][4][5][6] from Proto-Germanic *strawjaną,^[7][8] a verb that Orel derives from *strawan, the ancestor of straw.^[8][9] Its cognates include Old Frisian strēwa, Old Saxon strōian, Dutch strooien, Old High German strewen, German streuen, Old Norse strá and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌿𐌾𐌰𐌽 (straujan).^[5][10][4] The OED calls the further relations uncertain, but notes that most scholars connect the verb with Proto-Indo-European *ster- (“to spread”),^[5][10][11] the root also of Latin sternō (“to spread out”), past participle strātus, Ancient Greek στόρνυμι (stórnumi, “to spread out, strew”) and Old Irish sernim (“I spread out”).^[10][4][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

To scatter loosely over a surface: in the Old English Blickling Homilies,^[5] with Barnhart's date for the Old English verb about 971.^[10] Bosworth–Toller quotes Mark 11:8 in Old English: "Sume of ðám treówum heówon and streówodon on ðone weg".^[6]

Semantic evolution

Scattering rushes, straw or flowers over a floor is the early use the OED gives first,^[5] and Ayto explains straw itself as what was strewn on floors as a kind of carpet.^[9] The verb moved from the things scattered to the surface covered by about 1384, in the Wycliffite Bible, and then to scattered things themselves lying on a surface, recorded from 1513.^[5] Figurative uses are as old as the Wycliffite Bible and Gower.^[5] Poets also used it for laying someone low, from before 1500, and Chapman for spreading a cloth as a covering, about 1615.^[5] Johnson (1755) defined the main sense as spreading by being scattered.^[13] A noun, things strewn about, is recorded from 1578.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 971 – to scatter loosely over a surface.^[10][5]
• c. 1175 – the form strawwenn, in the Ormulum.^[2]
• before 1382 – figurative use.^[5]
• c. 1384 – to cover a surface with something scattered.^[5]
• before 1500 – to lay low, throw down (chiefly poetic).^[5]
• 1513 – of things, to lie scattered over a surface.^[5]
• 1578 – noun, things scattered about.^[5] Etymonline dates the noun to the 1590s.^[7]
• c. 1615 – to spread a cloth as a covering.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To scatter things loosely over an area: They strewed sand on the icy steps.^{[11][14][3][5]}
2. To cover a surface with things scattered over it: The lane was strewn with fallen leaves.^[11][3][5]
3. Of scattered things, to lie over a surface: Bottles strewed the beach.^[11][5]

Noun

1. A number of things scattered about; a litter or disorderly mess.^[3][5][12]

Word family

• strewer
• overstrew
• strewment
• unstrewed
• bestrew

Related words

• streusel
• straw
• stratum
• prostrate
• structure

Usage notes

The past participle is strewn or strewed.^[3][11][14] The verb was originally weak, and strewn and strown are later formations.^[15] Strow, an archaic variant,^[12][16] once competed in spelling: Johnson (1755) called the orthography doubtful and thought strow perhaps best.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
9. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ a b c d e The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
13. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
15. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press