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étrange

Etymology and origin of the French word étrange

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis
Inherited from
Latin extraneus via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin (extrā)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin extraneus
French étrange

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.tʁɑ̃ʒ/[1]

Forms

étrange (plural étranges)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French estrange, inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external; foreign”),[2][3][4][5] a derivative of extrā (“outside”).[3][6] Bloch and Wartburg compare the sound development of lange and linge.[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan estranh, Spanish extraño, Portuguese estranho and Italian strano.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has estrange “foreign”;[2] the Chanson de Roland speaks of celle gent estrange, that foreign people.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “foreign” lasted into the classical period and even the 19th century (La Fontaine's nations étranges), and survives in some dialects;[3][4][6] by the late 17th century it was largely replaced by the derivative étranger (1369).[3] From about 1165 (Benoît de Sainte-Maure) it meant “out of the ordinary”, in classical French often “terrible, dreadful” (Corneille's l'étrange peine).[2][3][9] The modern sense “odd, peculiar”, by weakening, is in Molière's L'Avare (1668).[2][9]

L'étrange as a noun (19th century) also names a literary genre.[3] In particle physics étrange (1968) translates English strange, and étrangeté strangeness.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Estrange “foreign” in Saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1165 – “Extraordinary”, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 1369 – The derivative étranger.[3]
  • Late 14th century – Étrangeté.[3]
  • 1668 – “Odd” in Molière.[2]
  • 1968 – Particule étrange.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Strange, odd, peculiar: un bruit étrange, c'est étrange.[9][10]
  2. (physics) Of a particle, having non-zero strangeness.[10][3]
  3. (obsolete) Foreign.[6][1]
  4. (classical) Dreadful, extreme.[9][8]

Noun

  1. L'étrange: the strange, the uncanny.[10][3]

Word family

  • étranger
  • étrangeté
  • étrangement

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 332a
  6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Étrange.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/%C3%A9trange. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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