An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/Strang

by Friedrich Kluge

Strang, masculine, ‘rope, string, halter, trace,’ from Middle High German stranc, strange, masculine and feminine, Old High German strang, masculine, ‘string, rope’; compare Dutch streng, Anglo-Saxon stręng, English string, Old Icelandic strengr, ‘string, strap.’ This Teutonic strangi- seems to be the adjective streng (literally ‘strong’), used as a substantive. Yet Strang, like Greek στραγγάλη, ‘string,’ and Latin stringere, ‘to draw tight,’ might be connected with an Aryan root strenk (streng), ‘to turn.’