Etymologically
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above

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /əˈbʌv/[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English above (also aboven), inherited from Old English abufan,[2][3][4] reduced from earlier onbufan (“above, in or to a higher place”),[3][2] formed from on (“on”) and bufan (“over”).[3][2][5] The second element is itself a compound of be (“by”) and ufan (“above, from above”),[3][2][6] from Proto-Germanic *ufan,[3][2] whose cognates include Old Saxon oban and German oben.[3][2][6] Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *upo (“under, up from under, over”).[2][4] It is related to over, up and by.[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Old English abufan is recorded about 896.[3] The OED's first sense, “overhead, on high, upstairs”, is from about 1000.[8]

Semantic evolution

Higher on a page, or earlier in a text, is from about 1120,[8] and “in heaven” from about 1250.[8] Of rank or position, “superior to, higher than”, it is from about 1200,[2] perhaps reinforced in Middle English by the sense “higher at table than, taking precedence over” in the mid-14th century.[2] “In addition to” and “out of reach of, not stooping to” are from the mid-14th century,[2] and “more than” in number or value from the late 14th.[2] Above all is from the late 14th century.[2] The noun, as in the above, is from the 13th century,[9] and the adjective, as in the above figures, from 1604[9] or about 1515.[10] In Yorkshire and Lincolnshire dialect above a bit meant “very much”, and above oneself “out of one's station”.[11]

Timeline

  • c. 896 – Old English abufan.[3]
  • c. 1000 – overhead.[8]
  • c. 1120 – earlier in a text.[8]
  • c. 1200 – of higher rank.[2]
  • c. 1250 – in heaven.[8]
  • mid-14th century – in addition to.[2]
  • late 14th century – above all; more than.[2]
  • 1604 – adjective, mentioned before.[9]

Modern meaning

Adverb

  1. Overhead; in or to a higher place.
  2. In heaven.
  3. Earlier in a text.
  4. In or to a higher rank; above zero.

Preposition

  1. Over or higher than.
  2. Superior to in rank or number; greater than.
  3. Beyond the reach or level of: above suspicion.
  4. In preference to.
  5. More than: above a thousand.

Noun

  1. Something mentioned earlier in a text.

Adjective

  1. Appearing earlier in the same text.

Word family

  • aboveground
  • abovementioned
  • hereinabove
  • above all
  • over and above
  • above stairs
  • above the line
  • over
  • up
  • by
  • about
  • beneath

Usage notes

The American Heritage Dictionary notes that above as an adjective or noun for a preceding text is most common in business and legal writing; most of its Usage Panel accepted the adjective (the above figures), but only a minority the noun (read the above).[12]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  12. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin