If you’ve been stranded, you’re abandoned and powerless.
The word “strand” came to English from the Scandinavians as a word meaning “beach” or “shore,” and it now refers specifically to the beach area between the high and low tide.
In the seventeenth century, a stranded ship had been beached or left aground on the strand after the tide went out.
The general use of the word to describe helplessness dates to 1837.
If you’re abandoned and alone, why do we say you’ve been “stranded”?
