Etymograph

English

Strachan

Strachan comes from Scottish Gaelic srath ‘river valley’, from Old Irish srath ‘grassland’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- ‘to spread, extend, stretch out’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-‘to spread, extend, stretch out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*str̥h₃tós‘stretched, spread’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*stratos‘valley’reconstructed
  4. Old Irishc. 600–900srath‘grassland’
  5. Scottish Gaelicmodernsame form‘river valley’
  6. EnglishtodayStrachan

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*sterh₃-‘to spread, extend, stretch out’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-European, derivedc. 4500–2500 BCE*str̥h₃tós‘stretched, spread’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Celticc. 1300–800 BCE*stratos‘valley’reconstructed
  4. Old Irishc. 600–900srath‘grassland’
  5. Scottish Gaelicmodernsame form‘river valley’
  6. EnglishtodayStrachan

The story

The village is named with Scottish Gaelic srath (‘river valley’) + eachan (‘foal’). The surname could either derive from the placename or from an Anglicized form of Irish Ó Sruitheáin (‘descendant of Sruitheán’), a personal name from sruith (‘sage elder’) + -án (‘diminutive suffix’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- ‘to spread, extend, stretch out’

street, straw, strand, sternum, prostrate, stratum, stroma, 10 more

through Proto-Indo-European *str̥h₃tós ‘stretched, spread’

stratus, 1 more

Today it means

name A village in Aberdeenshire council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NO674922).

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *sterh₃- / Strachan

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