Origin and history of strange

c. 1300, straunge, "from elsewhere, foreign, of another country; unknown, unfamiliar, not belonging to the place where found," also of a country, "unfamiliar, unknown, remote," from Old French estrange "foreign, alien, unusual, unfamiliar, curious; distant; inhospitable; estranged, separated" (Anglo-French estraunge, strange, straunge; Modern French étrange). This is from Latin extraneus "foreign, external, from without" (source also of Italian strano "strange, foreign," Spanish extraño), from extra "outside of" (see extra-).

In early use also strounge. In Middle English "not belonging to the place where found" in any sense, of religious groups, guilds, households as well as towns. The sense of "queer, surprising" also is implied from c. 1300. That of "aloof, reserved, distant; like a stranger" is by mid-14c. As an interjection of wonder by 1660s. The use of the word in particle physics is by 1956.

Strange woman "harlot" is biblical, since Coverdale (1535); there the word translates two Hebrew words both meaning "not one's own" woman. To make strange "seem to be surprised or shocked" is from mid-15c. The surname Lestrange is attested from late 12c. Related: Strangely; strangeness.