Strong takes its first roots from the Latin word stringere, meaning to close tightly or to squeeze. It was later adopted into Old High German as strengi, meaning the direct translation of strong. Old English began to adopt the word as strang, and by the start of the 12th century, Middle English had modified the word to strong, which has stood the test of time by still meaning the same thing roughly nine centuries later.
Strong is such an old word that it can be found with its proper Middle English spelling as far back as sometime between the year 700 and 1000 AD. First appearing in the Old English poem Beowulf, a heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines, strong existed among words and characters that are no longer part of the English language. The transcribed line is “Him þæt gifeðe ne wæs þæt him irenna ecge mihton helpan æt hilde; wæs sio hond to strong.” A rough translation in modern English comes to “It was not granted to him that the iron edge might help him in the battle; the hand was too strong.”
The Big Red uses strong in all of its interpretations. The team brings intensity to all that they do; practice, film, academics, and games. The intensity the team brings is all in an effort to help the team withstand the external pressures of football, both physical and mental. When the team is strong in these ways, it can become even stronger in the physical sense, fulfilling the first definition.
