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Origin and history of bizarre

bizarre(adj.)

"fantastical, odd, grotesque," 1640s, from French bizarre "odd, fantastic" (16c.), from Italian bizarro "irascible, tending to quick flashes of anger" (13c.), from bizza "fit of anger, quick flash of anger" (13c.). The sense in Italian evolved to "unpredictable, eccentric," then "strange, weird," in which sense it was taken into French and then English. The older proposed derivation from Basque bizar "a beard" is no longer considered tenable.

also from 1640s

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eccentric
early 15c., "eccentric circle or orbit," originally a term in Ptolemaic astronomy, "circle or orbit not having the Earth precisely at its center," from French eccentrique and directly from Medieval Latin eccentricus (noun and adjective), from Greek ekkentros "out of the center" (
flaky
1570s, "consisting of flakes," from flake + -y (2). Meaning "eccentric, crazy" first recorded 1959, said to be American English baseball slang, but probably from earlier druggie slang flake "cocaine" (1920s). Flake (n.) "eccentric person" is a 1968 back-formation from it. Related
gonzo
1971, American English, in Hunter S. Thompson's phrase gonzo journalism. Thompson in 1972 said he got it from editor Bill Cardosa and explained it as "some Boston word for weird, bizarre." Probably from Italian (Neapolitan) gonzo "rude, sottish," a word of unknown origin, perhaps
antic
.); later extended to "any bizarre thing or behavior," in which sense it first arrived in English....As an adjective in English from 1580s, "grotesque, bizarre."...
outlandish
The meaning "unfamiliar, strange, odd, uncouth, bizarre" (such as the customs of foreigners may seem to natives) is attested...
outer
"that is farther out, that is exterior or external; of or pertaining to the outside; further removed," late 14c., comparative of out (on analogy of inner), replacing by 18c. forms descended from Old English uttera (comparative of Old English ut "out") which developed into utter (
route
c. 1200, "a way, a road, space for passage," from Old French rute "road, way, path" (12c.), from Latin rupta (via) "(a road) opened by force," broken or cut through a forest, etc., from rupta, fem. past participle of rumpere "to break" (see rupture (n.)). The sense of "fixed or r
Prometheus
in Greek mythology, a demigod (son of the Titan Iapetus) who made man from clay and stole fire from heaven and taught mankind its use, for which he was punished by Zeus by being chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where a vulture came every day and preyed on his liver. The name is
fellowship
c. 1200, feolahschipe "companionship," from fellow + -ship. The sense of "a body of companions" is from late 13c. The meaning "spirit of comradeship, friendliness" is from late 14c. As a state of privilege in English colleges, from 1530s. In Middle English it was at times a euphe
sanguine
late 14c., "blood-red, of a blood-red color" (late 12c. as a surname), from Old French sanguin (fem. sanguine) and directly from Latin sanguineus "of blood," also "bloody, bloodthirsty," from sanguis (genitive sanguinis) "blood" (see sanguinary). The meaning "cheerful, hopeful, v

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