Etymologically
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under

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈʌn.də/ (UK); /ˈʌn.dɚ/ (US)[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English under, inherited from Old English under (“beneath, among, in subjection to”),[3][4] from Proto-Germanic *under-,[3][5] from Proto-Indo-European *n̥dher- (“under”).[6][3][7] Its cognates include Dutch onder, German unter, Old Norse undir and Gothic 𐌿𐌽𐌳𐌰𐍂 (undar),[3][5] and outside Germanic Latin infrā (“below”), inferus (“lower”) and Sanskrit अधः (adháḥ, “below”).[3][8][9] Old English under also meant “between, among”, as still in the phrase “under these circumstances”;[3][10] Barnhart, Klein and Weekley derive this sense from a different root, the one in Latin inter (“between”),[11][8][10] and Etymonline allows that it may be so.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Beneath, below; in subjection to (Old English, about 725, in Beowulf).[11][3]

Semantic evolution

The notion of being inferior in rank or position was already present in Old English.[3] Under was productive as a prefix, often forming words modelled on Latin ones in sub-, and Middle English had more than 200 words with it.[3] With reference to standards, “less than in age, price or value”, it dates from the late 14th century.[3][12] The adjective, “lower in position or rank”, appears in the 13th century,[3][13] and the Shorter Oxford explains it as detached from compounds on the model of over.[14] Figurative phrases include under one's wing (early 13th century), under one's nose (1540s), under one's hat, secret (1885), and under one's belt, first literally of food or drink (1839).[3] Down under, in the Antipodes, is recorded from 1899,[15] and under, unconscious or anaesthetized, from the 1930s.[12][14]

Timeline

  • c. 725 – Old English under, in Beowulf.[11]
  • early 13th century – under someone's wing.[3]
  • 13th century – as an adjective.[3][13]
  • late 14th century – less than.[3]
  • 1540s – under one's nose.[3]
  • 1731 – unders, underclothes.[15]
  • 1885 – under one's hat.[3]
  • 1899 – down under.[15]
  • 1930s – unconscious, under anaesthetic.[12]

Modern meaning

Preposition

  1. In or to a position below or beneath: under the bed.
  2. Beneath the surface or cover of: under water.
  3. Less than: under forty years.
  4. Lower in rank than; subject to the authority or control of: served under the general.
  5. Undergoing or affected by: under pressure or under repair.
  6. In accordance with; within the category of: under the terms of the contract or under theology.
  7. Using as a name: under an assumed name.
  8. Planted with: a field under corn.

Adverb

  1. In or into a lower position; below or beneath.
  2. Less than a quantity or limit.
  3. Into subjection or unconsciousness: put the patient under.
  4. Down to defeat or ruin: businesses going under.

Adjective

  1. Lower; beneath something.
  2. Lower in rank; subordinate.
  3. Less than is required.

Word family

  • hereunder
  • thereunder
  • underbody
  • underclothes
  • undercover
  • undereye
  • underhand
  • over
  • infra
  • inferior
  • infernal
  • understand
  • underneath

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  5. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  7. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  9. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  10. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  11. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  12. ^ a b c Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
  13. ^ a b Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  14. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  15. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press