Etymologically
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über

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Pronunciation

  • /ˈyːbɐ/, /ˈʏbɐ/[1]

Forms

über (preposition with dative or accusative; also adverb)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German über, inherited from Old High German ubiri (“beyond, more”), inherited from Proto-Germanic *ubiri (“over, above”).[2][3][1] In Old High German the preposition was usually ubar, while the umlauted form served as the adverb.[4][5] The modern form continues the adverb, as its umlaut shows, and has driven out the form without umlaut.[4][6] Traces of forms without umlaut survive in some dialects that otherwise have umlaut of /u/.[6]

The same word is Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂 (ufar), Old Norse yfir, Old English ofer, Old Saxon oƀar and Old Frisian over, and today Dutch over, English over and Swedish över.[2][3] It goes back to Proto-Indo-European *upéri (“over, above”), built on *upo (“up from below”) with a comparative suffix in /r/.[3][1] The same Indo-European form is continued by Sanskrit उपरि (upári, “above”), Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér, “over, beyond”), Latin super (with a prefixed /s/) and Old Irish for.[2][3][1] It belongs with auf, ob and obere.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German ubar is recorded from the 8th century, and the adverb ubar “on top, beyond” in glosses of about 790.[3][7] The Old High German texts, among them the Hildebrandslied, Isidor, Otfrid, Tatian and Notker, use the preposition for “over, across, beyond, more than”, but also “opposite”, “apart from” and “for the sake of”.[8][7]

Semantic evolution

In the older language über was rarely used with the dative; ob or ober stood there instead.[4] Old High German already had the compound ubaral, modern überall “everywhere”.[3] überhaupt (15th century) goes back to Middle High German über houbet “over the heads”, that is, without counting the animals one by one, a phrase that probably comes from cattle farming; from it came the senses “altogether” and, in the 18th century, überhaupt nicht “not at all”.[3] The adjective übrig “left over”, Middle High German überic, also meant “superfluous”.[3][5] From it übrigens “by the way” was formed at the end of the 17th century, on the model of erstens.[3][5]

Colloquially über is also used as a predicative adjective in place of übrig (“left over”).[1] English has borrowed it as uber.[1]

Timeline

  • 8th century – Old High German ubar is first recorded.[3][2]
  • c. 790 – The adverb ubar appears in glosses.[7]
  • 15th century – überhaupt is first recorded.[3]
  • Late 17th century – übrigens is formed on the model of erstens.[3][5]
  • 18th century – überhaupt nicht “not at all” is recorded.[3]

Meanings

Preposition

  1. (with dative) above, over: at a place higher than something.[9][1]
  2. (with accusative) Over: to a place higher than something.[9][1]
  3. Over, on top of: covering something (a coat over the dress).[9]
  4. (with accusative) across: crossing a street, a bridge, a border.[9][1]
  5. (with accusative) via, by way of.[1]
  6. (with accusative) During, over (a period of time, such as über Ostern).[3][1]
  7. (with accusative) About, concerning: the subject of talk or thought.[1][3]
  8. (with accusative) Beyond, more than (a quantity or limit).[1][3]

Adverb

  1. More than (über drei Kilo).[3][10]
  2. über und über: completely, all over.[3]

Adjective

  1. (colloquial, predicative) left over, remaining.[1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 938
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
  4. ^ a b c Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
  5. ^ a b c d e Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
  6. ^ a b Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1854–1961), Deutsches Wörterbuch, 16 vols. in 32, Leipzig: Hirzel; digital: Wörterbuchnetz, Trier Center for Digital Humanities, p. 23, 72
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
  8. ^ Schützeichel, Rudolf (2012), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 7th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 344
  9. ^ a b c d Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
  10. ^ Wiktionary, das freie Wörterbuch (German Wiktionary), de.wiktionary.org