Über (German pronunciation: [ˈyːbɐ] ⓘ, sometimes written uber [1] in English-language publications) is a German language word meaning "over", "above" or "across". It is an etymological twin with German ober, and is a cognate (through Proto-Germanic) with English over, Dutch over, Swedish över and Icelandic yfir, among other Germanic languages; it is a distant cognate to the Sanskrit word ūpari and Hindi ūpar (both meaning 'above', 'over' or 'up'), probably through Proto-Indo-European. The word is relatively well known within Anglophone communities due to its occasional use as a hyphenated prefix in informal English, usually for emphasis. The German word is properly spelled with an umlaut, while the spelling of the English loanword varies.
| This article needs additional citations for verification. (January 2017) |
Look up
über or
über- in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
In German, über is a preposition, as well as being used as a prefix. 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 (from Dach (roof)) means roof-covered, roofed while überdacht (from the strong verb denken-[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 a preposition, über's meaning depends on its context. For example, über etwas sprechen – to speak about something, über die Brücke – across the bridge.
Über also translates to over, above, meta, but mainly in compound words. The actual translation depends on context. One example would be Nietzsche's term Übermensch, discussed below; another example is the Deutschlandlied, 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 word unter, meaning beneath or under, is antonymous to über. Unter can be found in words such as U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn – underground (rail-)way), U-Boot (Unterseeboot – submarine, lit. "under sea boat"), as well as toponyms, such as Unter den Linden ("Below the linden trees").
Grammatically, über belongs to that set of German prepositions that can govern either the accusative case or the dative 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).