Über

This article is about the German word. For the ridesharing service, seeUber.For other uses, seeUber (disambiguation).

Über(German pronunciation:[ˈyːbɐ],sometimes writtenuber/ˈuːbər/in English-language publications) is aGerman languageword meaning "over", "above" or "across". It is anetymological twinwith Germanober,and is acognate(throughProto-Germanic) with Englishover,Dutchover,Swedishöverand Icelandicyfir,among other Germanic languages; it is a distant cognate to theSanskritwordūpariandHindiūpar(both meaning 'above', 'over' or 'up'), probably throughProto-Indo-European.The word is relatively well known withinAnglophonecommunities due to its occasional use as a hyphenated prefix in informal English, usually for emphasis. The German word is properly spelled with anumlaut,while the spelling of the Englishloanwordvaries.

In German

In German,überis a preposition, as well as being used as aprefix.Both uses indicate a state or action involving increased elevation or quantity in the physical sense, or superiority or excess in the abstract.

elevation:"überdacht"- roof-covered, roofed, [also: reconsidered, thought over] (überdacht(fromDach(roof)) means roof-covered, roofed whileüberdacht(from thestrong verbdenken-[dachte,gedacht] (think,thought,thought) means reconsidered, thought over)

quantity:"über 100 Meter"- more than 100 meters,"Überschall"- supersonic

superiority:"überlegen"- (adj) superior, elite, predominant. (verb) to think something over

excess:"übertreiben"- to exaggerate,"überfüllt"- overcrowded)

As apreposition,über's meaning depends on its context. For example,über etwas sprechen– to speak about something,über die Brücke– across the bridge.

Überalso translates toover,above,meta,but mainly incompound words.The actual translation depends on context. One example would beNietzsche'stermÜbermensch,discussed below; another example is theDeutschlandlied,which begins with the well-known words "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" meaning "Germany, Germany above everything" (this stanza is not sung anymore, because it is mistaken as meaning "Germany above the rest of the world"; its original meaning was the German nation above its constituent states [Prussia, Hanover, Württemberg etc.]).

The German wordunter,meaningbeneathorunder,isantonymoustoüber.Untercan be found in words such asU-Bahn(Untergrundbahn– underground (rail-)way),U-Boot(Unterseeboot– submarine, lit. "under sea boat" ), as well astoponyms,such asUnter den Linden( "Below the linden trees" ).

Grammatically,überbelongs to that set of German prepositions that can govern either theaccusative caseor thedative case( "an, auf, hinter, in, neben,über,unter, vor, zwischen"). The choice is determined by whether the prepositional phrase indicates movement (accusative) or an unmoving state (dative).

In English

Origins

The crossover of the term "über" from German into English goes back to the work ofGermanphilosopherFriedrich Nietzsche.In 1883, Nietzsche coined the term "Übermensch"to describe the higher state to which he felt men might aspire. The term wasbrought into EnglishbyGeorge Bernard Shawin the title to his 1903 playMan and Superman.During his rise to power,Adolf Hitleradopted Nietzsche's term, using it in his descriptions of an Aryanmaster race.It was in this context thatAmericanJewishcomic bookcreatorJerry Siegelencountered the term and conceived the 1933 story "The Reign of the Superman",in which the mentally advanced superman (not to be confused with his later superhero character) is a villain.Shortly afterward, Siegel and artistJoseph ShusterrecastSupermaninto the iconic American hero he subsequently became. It is through this association with the superhero that the term "über" carries much of its English sense implying irresistibility or invincibility.

Differences from the German

Spelling

The normaltransliterationof the "ü" ('u' with anumlaut) when used in writing systems withoutdiacritics(such as airport arrival boards, older computer systems, etc.) is "ue", not just "u".

Meaning

Because of different usage, theEnglish languageversion of the word is distinct from "über". It is not possible to translate every English "uber" back into "über": for example, "uber-left" could not be translated into "Überlinks": aGermanophonewould say "linksaußen" (literally "outer left", meaning a left-winger in either sports or politics).

See also

• Metal umlaut
• Uberfic

Further reading

• Clausing, Stephen.English Influence of American German and American Icelandic.New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1986.
• Stanforth, Anthony W.Deutsche Einflüsse auf den englischen Wortschatz in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1996.
• Hock, Hans Heinrich, and Brian D. Joseph.Language History, Language Change, and Language Relationship: An Introduction to Historical and Comparative Linguistics.New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996.
• Burridge, Kate.Blooming English: Observations on the Roots, Cultivation and Hybrids in the English Language.New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• Burridge, Kate.Weeds in the Garden of Words: Further Observations on the Tangled History of the English Language.New York: Cambridge University Press, 2004, 2005.
• Savan, Leslie.Slam dunks and No-Brainers: Language in your Life, Media, Business, Politics, and, like, Whatever.New York: Knopf, 2005.