oberer

Forms

oberer (attributive only; superlative oberster)^[1] In modern German the adjective is used only with inflectional endings (der obere, ein oberer), not in a bare form ober.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle High German obere, inherited from Old High German obaro (“upper, higher”), a comparative formed with an r-suffix from the adverb and preposition ob.^[4][2][5] The same formation is Old Saxon ovaro, Middle Low German ȫver, Middle Dutch overe and Old English uferra, and Gothic has the adverb 𐌿𐍆𐌰𐍂𐍉 (ufarō, “above”).^[5][6][2] Outside Germanic it corresponds to Sanskrit उपर (úpara, “lower, later”), Avestan upara- (“upper”), Ancient Greek ὕπερος (hýperos, “pestle”) and Latin superus (“upper”), which together point to a comparative Proto-Indo-European *upero-.^[2][4]

Old High German also had obarōro, with a second comparative ending, from about 800, and the superlative obarōsto, the source of modern oberst.^[2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old High German obaro is first recorded in glosses of the third quarter of the 8th century, then in Otfrid and Notker, meaning “upper, higher, superior”.^[7][5] Notker uses the plural diu obarun for “the upper spheres” and speaks of diu obera Ierusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective was early transferred from position to pitch and to rank.^[3] Used as a noun, the plural die oberen named people of higher rank or standing in Middle High German, and der Obere “superior” is recorded from the 16th century.^[2][8] A 15th-century form ain ober, which kept the endingless Middle High German nominative, gave the playing card Ober, ranking below the king, from the early 16th century;^[2][3] Paul dates it to 1517.^[2][3] The waiter called Ober is a much later clipping of Oberkellner (late 19th century).^[2][4] The feminine Oberin, the head of a convent or of a nursing staff, appears at the end of the 18th century.^[8][3]

Because the ending could be dropped, the adjective fused easily with a following noun: Middle High German daz ober gewant became Obergewand, and diu obere hant “the hand that wins” became Oberhand, now mostly in die Oberhand gewinnen.^[3][8] The substantivised superlative der Oberste was shortened to the military rank Oberst (1565), sometimes in the old-fashioned form Obrist.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 8th century – Old High German obaro appears in glosses.^[7][4]
• c. 800 – The double comparative obarōro is recorded.^[2][7]
• 15th century – ain ober names a person of higher rank.^[2]
• 16th century – der Obere “superior” is in use.^[8]
• 1517 – First record of Ober as a playing card.^[3]
• 1565 – First record of the rank Oberst.^[3]
• Late 18th century – The feminine Oberin appears.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Upper; situated above another or others: die obere Schublade “the top drawer”.^[9][1]
2. Nearer the source of a river: am oberen Main “on the upper Main”.^[9]
3. Higher in rank or in a hierarchy; superior: die oberen Gerichte “the higher courts”.^[9][1]
4. Facing away from the underside: die obere Fläche des Bretts “the top face of the board”.^[9]

Word family

• Ober
• Obere
• Oberin
• oberst
• Oberst
• Oberhand
• Obrigkeit

Related words

• über
• oben
• ob
• English over

Usage notes

As a noun, der Obere (inflected like an adjective) is someone high in a hierarchy, and in particular a cleric in charge of a monastery or order.^[9] A preposition ober “above, over”, with the dative, survives in Austria and is otherwise regional and dated;^[9][4] Kluge treats it as the Low and Central German counterpart of über, recorded from the 18th century.^[9][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
4. ^ a b c d e f Kluge, Friedrich; Seebold, Elmar (2011), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, 25th ed., Berlin / Boston: De Gruyter, p. 663
5. ^ a b c d Lloyd, Albert L.; Springer, Otto; Lühr, Rosemarie, et al. (1988–), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Althochdeutschen, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht; online ewa.saw-leipzig.de, p. 6, 1101
6. ^ Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch (1952–), founded by Elisabeth Karg-Gasterstädt and Theodor Frings, Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag / De Gruyter; online awb.saw-leipzig.de, p. 7, 16
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch, 6th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
8. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2020), 6th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin: Dudenverlag
9. ^ a b c d e f g Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag