# An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/U (full text)

* A - B - D - E - F - G - H - I - J - K - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S-Sch - Se-Su - T - U - V - W - Z
U.
übel, adj., ‘evil, bad, wrong; sick,’ from MidHG. übel, OHG. ubil, ‘bad, wicked’; a common Teut. adj. corresponding to OSax. uƀil, Du. euvel. AS. yfel, E. evil, Goth. ubils, ‘bad.’ With these are connected OHG. uppi (from Teut. ubjo-), ‘vicious, malignant; villain,’ as well as the cognates of ModHG. üppig. The word has been supposed to be related to the prepos. über (Aryan upérî), so that Teut. uƀilo-, from upelo-, meant lit. ‘that which oversteps a limit or is contrary to rule.’ Nothing positive, however, can be asserted, since the word is specifically Teut.; or is OIr. uall, ‘pride,’ cognate?.
üben, vb., ‘to practise, exercise,’ from MidHG. üeben, OHG. uoben (from *ôbjan), wk. vb., ‘to set agoing, execute, venerate,’ corresponding to OSax. ôƀian, ‘to celebrate,’ Du. oefenen, ‘to exercise, look after,’ Ofc. œ́fa, ‘to practise.’ Allied to OHG. uoba, ‘celebration,’ uobo, ‘tiller of the soil.’ The Teut. root ôb, ‘to execute,’ contained in these cognates, seems to have been originally used of tilling the ground and of religious acts. To this corresponds, according to the permutation of consonants, the Aryan root ō̆p, with which are allied Sans. ā̆pas, n., ‘work’ (espec. religions work), and Lat. ŏpus, n., ‘work’ (connected with ŏperari, espec., ‘to sacrifice’).
über, prepos. and adv., ‘over, above,’ from the equiv. MidHG. über; OHG. ûbir, ubar, is a prepos. with the adverb. form ubiri. Corresponding to OSax. oƀar, Du. and E. over, AS. ofer, OIc. yfer, Goth. ufar, ‘over.’ This common Teut. word is based on an equiv. Aryan upéri, which appears in Sans. upari, Gr. ὑπέρ (ὑπείρ), Lat. super. With these are connected the prepos. auf, and ob (ober). Comp. also übel.
Überdruß, see verdrießen. —
überflüssig, adj., ‘superfluous,’ from MidHG. übervlüȥȥec, ‘overflowlng, superabundant, remaining.’ —
überhaupt, adv., ‘in general, on the whole,’ from late MidHG. über houbet, ‘without counting the pieces, whole, all’ (properly only of buying goods; MidHG. houbet is frequently used to designate a number of men or beasts).
überwinden, vb., ‘to wind over; overcome, conquer,’ from MidHG. überwinden, OHG. ubarwintan, str. vb., ‘to excel, overpower, conquer’; also with an equiv. meaning MidHG. überwinnen, OHG. ubarwinnan. While the simple OHG. vb. wintan means ‘to turn, turn round,’ OHG. winnan (comp. AS. oferwinnan) has the signification ‘to contend, quarrel’ (comp. gewinnen), which appears in the compound. The t, winch properly belongs only to the present stem in this sense, is the samne as in OHG. stantan, swintan (see stehen, schwinden).
übrig, adj., ‘lest over, remaining,’ from MidHG. überic (g), ‘left over, excessive, exaggerated, superfluous’; a MidHG. derivative of über.
Ufer, n., ‘shore, bank (of a river),’ a MidG. and LG. word (adopted like Boot, Strand, &c., in the written language), from the equiv. MidHG. uover, n. OHG. *uofar (Goth. *ôfr?) is wanting; nor is the word known even now to the UpG. dialects. Comp. MidLG. ôver, Du. oever, AS. ôfer (obsolete in E.; yet Windsor is equiv. to AS. Windles ôfer, ‘the bank of the Windel’). West Teut. ôfor has been considered, probably without reason, a cognate of Sans. ap, ‘water’ (for the evolution of meaning comp. Au), and Lat. amnis (for *apnis?), ‘river.’ UpG. (Bav.) urvar, ‘haven, landing-place, bank,’ of the MidHG. period, points rather to a Goth. *us-far, ‘haven’; Goth.-Teut. uz appears in some West Teut. dialects as ô (OHG. uo). Hence Ufer is lit. ‘departure, setting out’?.
Uhr, f., ‘clock, watch, hour,’ ModHG. only, from LG. ûr, ‘clock, hour’ (even in the MidHG. period LRhen. ûr meant ‘hour’); corresponding to Du. uur, E. hour. Based on Lat. hôra (comp. Fr. heure, Ital. ora).
Uhu, m., ‘horned owl,’ ModHG. only, a recent onomatopoetic word, which was connected with MidHG. hûwe, OHG. hûwo, OLG. hûo, ‘owl.’
ulken, vb., ‘to lark,’ ModHG. only; allied to LRhen. ulk, ‘bulb’?. Comp. Du. ui, ‘onion, joke.’
Ulme, f., ‘elm,’ from MidHG. (rare) ulmboum, for which MidHG. and OHG. ëlmboum, m., is most frequently found. While ulm- is adopted from Lat. ulmus, the equiv. OHG. and MidHG. ëlm- is related prehistorically, by gradation, with Lat. ulmus; so too OIc. almr, E. elm. With the ​pre-Teut. stem el, ol, the cognates of ModHG. Erle (Eller) are also connected.
um, adv. and prep. ‘about, around,’ from the equiv. MidHG. umbe (ümbe), OHG. umbi, cannot be regarded as directly corresponding to Gr. ἀμφί, Sans. abhi, ‘about,’ for then the OHG. form would be umb. OHG. unbi is rather a compound of this *umb, with the prep. bī̆, ‘by’; so too OSax. umbi, AS. ymbe (but ymb directly corresponds to Sans. abhi). —
umsonst, adv., ‘in vain, to no purpose,’ from the equiv. MidHG. umbe sus. See sonst.
un-, prefix, ‘not,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. un-; a negative prefix common to Teut. and Aryan; comp. OSax. un-, Du. on-, AS. and E. un-, OIc. ó-. Corresponding to Gr. ἀ-, Lat. in-, Sans. and Zend a-, an-. With this prefix is connected the common Aryan negation nē̆, ‘not’ (see nicht), as well as the prep. ohne and its cognates.
Unbill, f., ‘iniquity, wrong,’ MidHG. only; based on the cognates of billig, instead of the correct ModHG. Unbilde, f., MidHG. unbilde, n., ‘wrong, impropriety,’ which is properly an abstract from MidHG. (rare) unbil (usually unbillîch), adj., ‘incongruous, unjust.’ On account of the meaning there is probably no direct historic connection with Bild. Comp. billig, and especially Weichbild.
und, conj., ‘and,’ from the equiv. MidHG. unt, unde, OHG. unta, unti (inti, enti); corresponding to OSax. ęndi, Du. en, AS. and E. and. Sans. útha, ‘also, further, and,’ points, like AS. and E. and, to Aryan nthá.
Unflat, m., ‘filth, dirt,’ from MidHG. un-vlât, m., n., and f., ‘dirtiness, untidiness’; to which is allied unflätig, adj. ‘filthy, nasty,’ from MidHG. unvlœtic, ‘unclean, untidy.’ OHG. *flât, ‘beauty,’ is met with only in female proper names (Sigi-, Muot-, Hruoī̆-flât). The early history of OHG. *flât (Goth. flêd, AS. flœ̂d in proper names) is obscure.
ungefähr, see ohngefähr.
ungeheuer, adj., ‘monstrous, atrocious,’ from MidHG. ungehiure, OHG. ungihiuri, ‘uncanny, frightful’; allied to Angeheuer, n., ‘monster,’ from MidHG. ungehiure, ‘savage, dragon, ghostly creature,’ OHG. ungihiurì, ‘monster.’ See geheuer.
ungeschlacht, see geschlacht.
ungestüm, adj., ‘blustering, impetuous,’ from MidHG. ungestüeme, OHG. ungistuomi (unstuom), adj., ‘stormy, impetuous’; the unnegatived form of the adj. was extremely rare in OHG. and MidHG. Based on a verbal root stam, as in MidHG. stęmen (ModHG. stemmen, from *stamjan), ‘to check, restrain,’ which appears also in ModHG. stammeln. —
Ungetüm, n., ‘monster,’ early ModHG. only; unknown to the older periods. Early history obscure.
Ungeziefer, n., ‘vermin,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. ungezī̆bere, unzī̆ver, n.; properly ‘unclean beast not suited for sacrifice.’ It is based, in fact, on OHG. ‘zëbar, ‘beast of offering,’ which is connected with the equiv. AS. tîfer. The terms borrowed in Rom., OFr. toivre, ‘cattle,’ Portug. zebro, ‘ox, cow,’ prove that zëbar was applied to large animals, and that the word was widely diffused in OTeut.
Unke, f., ‘ringed snake,’ ModHG. only; in MidHG. ûche (OHG. ûhha), f., ‘toad’; MidHG. and OHG. unc, m., ‘snake.’ Probably the ModHG. word is due to a combination of the older forms.
unlängst, adv., ‘recently, of late,’ from MidHG. unlanges (unlange), ‘short time,’ with an excrescent t as in Obst, Art.
Unrat, m., ‘trash, rubbish, refuse,’ from MidHG. and OHG. unrât, m., ‘helplessness, want, necessity, useless stuff’; allied to Rat.
uns, pron., ‘us, to us,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. uns, in the same form common to Teut. to supplement the declension of wir. Comp. Du. ons, OLG. and AS. âs (E. us), Goth. uns. This uns (from ns) is certainly connected with Lat. nos (noster), Gr. ἡμεῖς (for *ἀσ-μεῖς), and Sans. nas, ‘us’; comp. wir. — Allied to unser, poss. pron., ‘our,’ from MidHG. unser, OHG. unsêr, The detailed history of the prenom. stem belongs to grammar.
Unschlitt, Inschlitt (Inselt), n., ‘suet, tallow,’ from MidHG. unslit (unselt), inslit (inselt), n., ‘tallow,’ of which there are abundant variants in MidHG. Comp. OHG. unslit, ‘fat, tallow’ (AS. unslid, or rather unflid, ‘fat, grease, tallow,’ is uncertain). MidHG. unsleht, ‘tallow’ (Rhen.-Franc. inschlicht), seems to be connected with MidHG. (in)geslehte, n., ‘entrails.’ The derivation of the word cannot be more definitely determined, since the older forms are unknown; Hess. and LG. ungel, ‘tallow,’ suggests the supposition that OHG. unslit has originated in *ungslit.
unten, adv., ‘below, beneath, ​underneath,’ from the equiv. MidHG. unden, OHG. untanân. Allied to unter, prep. and adv., ‘below, under,’ from MidHG. and OHG. unter, under, OLG. untar (prep.); but untari, adv.; corresponding to Goth. and OSax. undar, Du. onder, AS. and E. under. The Aryan prep. ndhér, on which these are based, appears also in Lat. infra (comp. inferior) and Sans. adhás, ‘beneath’ (adhara, ‘the lower’).
Unterschleif, m., ‘embezzlement, smuggling,’ ModHG. only, allied to MidHG. undersliufœre, ‘cheat’; comp. MidHG. undersliefen, ‘to cheat, deceive,’ underslouf, ‘hiding-place.’
unterthan, adj. ‘subject to, dependent,’ from the equiv. MidHG. undertân, OHG. untartân. Properly a partic. of MidHG. undertuon, OHG. untartuon, ‘to subjugate, bring into subjection.’ See thun.
unterwegen, unterwegs, adv., ‘on the way,’ from MidHG. under wëgen, ‘on the way, away.’
unwirsch, adj., ‘cross, rude, morose,’ from MidHG. (rare) unwirs, usually unwirdesch, ‘unworthy, contemptuous, indignant, angry.’ Comp. MidHG. unwërt, ‘despised, unsuited, disagreeable’; allied to wert. See also wirsch.
Unze, f., ‘ounce,’ from MidHG. unze, OHG. unza, f., ‘weight,’ from Lat. uncia.
üppig, adj., ‘luxurious, voluptuous, sumptuous,’ from MidHG. üppic (g), OHG. uppîg, ‘superfluous, useless, invalid, frivolous, arrogant.’ For the connection of this specifically HG. word with Goth. ufjô, f., ‘superfluity,’ and OHG. uppi, ‘malicious,’ as well as with the cognates of übel and über, see übel.
Ur, see Auer-.
ur-, pref., from MidHG. and OHG. ur-; an accented prefix of which er- (MidHG. er-, OHG. ir-) is the unaccented form. In OHG., ur, ‘out of,’ is met with as a prep. The prefix signifies ‘out of, originally, in the beginning.’ Goth. has us (uz), of which there are no certain cognates in the other Aryan languages.
Urahn, m., ‘great-grandfather,’ from MidHG. urane; see Ahn. —
uralt, adj., ‘extremely old, primeval,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. uralt; allied to alt. —
Urbar, n., ‘produce, landed property,’ from MidHG. urbor, urbar, f. and n., ‘copyhold, rent, income’; lit. perhaps ‘tax, produce, rent’ (comp. Goth. gabaúr, ‘tax’). Hence urbar, adj., ‘arable,’ lit. ‘bearing interest, productive’ (ModHG. only). —
Urfehde, f., ‘solemn oath not to take vengeance on an enemy,’ from the equiv. MidHG. urvêhede (urvêhe), f.; see Fehde. —
Urheber, m., ‘author, originator,’ a ModHG. derivative of MidHG. urhap (b), m., ‘beginning, cause, origin’ (allied to heben).
Urkunde, f., ‘deed, document, charter,’ from MidHG. urkunde (urkünde), n. and f., ‘testimony, proof, document,’ OHG. urchundî, f., ‘testimony’; allied to erkennen (hence lit. ‘recognition’). —
Urlaub, m., ‘leave of absence, furlough,’ from MidHG. and OHG. úrloup (b), m. and n., ‘permission’; an abstract from erlauben, ‘to permit, MidHG. erlouben, OHG. irloubôn. —
Ursache, f., ‘cause,’ from MidHG. ursache. —
Ursprung, m., ‘source, origin,’ from MidHG. úrsprunc, úrsprinc (g), OHG. úrspring, m. and n., ‘source’; allied to springen, (erspringen). —
Urtel, Urteil, n., ‘judgment, sentence, decision,’ from MidHG. urteil, urteile, f. and n., ‘judicial decision’; allied to erteilen (lit. ‘that which is imparted’). Comp. Du. oordeel, AS. ordâl, ‘judgment’ (whence Fr. ordalie, ‘judgment of God,’ MidLat. ordalium).
uzen, vb., ‘to jeer at, mock,’ ModHG. only; a derivative of the proper name Utz, an abbrev. form of Ulrich. Comp. hänseln.