Mister Micawber  +  80843 Sun, 13 Mar 05 01:04 PM Welcome to English Forums, Guest. And what country do you come from? Whatever your first language, we will be happy to help you improve your English. Mister Micawber Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004 Yokohama Veteran Member 30,825 'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'

	Pemmican  +  80980 Sun, 13 Mar 05 11:45 PM This is a very interesting topic... I came across "über" a couple of months ago and was first thinking there was something wrong with my ears... *lol* "über" is German, yep - and means "over, above, about, via". The prefix über- ("super-") occurs rarely, namely in special words like übergroß (larger than large), Übermensch (human being with special abilities), Übergott (larger than God), etc. Interestingly, it made its way into the English language and is becoming more and more common - I'd like to know where this word actually comes from... was it that chocolate bar mentioned in a posting before that made "über-" so popular? Would be great if you could tell me more about "über-" in English. Pemmican Joined on Thu, Aug 21 2003 Regular Member 569 Wâ mag ich mich nu vinden? wâ mac ich mich nu suochen, wâ? nu bin ich hie und bin ouch dâ und enbin doch weder dâ noch hie. wer wart ouch sus verirret ie? wer wart ie sus...

	MrPedantic  +  80985 Mon, 14 Mar 05 12:03 AM Sorry, P., it was only a (very weak) joke about the chocolate bar. There wasn't one really. (I'm too embarrassed to explain it. Just one of those Sunday posts.) 'über-' seems to combine oddity with simplicity. Any wearisome cliché can be swiftly and simply rehabilitated and rejuvenated. Übergroovy. (Ah. Except that one.) MrP MrPedantic Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004 Veteran Member 12,592 ...opella forensis / adducit febris... Jokes

	Pemmican  +  81230 Mon, 14 Mar 05 09:13 PM *lol* But it would certainly have been an übergorgious chocolate bar! Btw: The verse "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" is no longer the German national anthem. It's the one that starts with "Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit". However, I'm still interested in the origin of 'über-', so just let me know if you find out something All the best -Pemmican Pemmican

	pieanne  +  81362 Tue, 15 Mar 05 11:38 AM Couldn't it have something to do with Ancient Greek "hubris" (arrogance)? Anyway, there's über, ober- (found in some German names of villages and areas, maybe "niederdeutsch"), over (Engl) and over (Dutch), they all have the same origin. pieanne Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005 South of France ...But I'm Belgian! Veteran Member 7,517 I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...

	pieanne  +  81388 Tue, 15 Mar 05 01:56 PM Thanks, Paco, but don't you think it's such a coincidence, "hubris" and "über"? After all, "hubris" is "überpride"! pieanne

	paco2004  +  81404 Tue, 15 Mar 05 02:35 PM Pieanne Sorry, I don't know almost nothing about Latin. I wish I had learnt it when I was young. paco paco2004

	pieanne  +  81407 Tue, 15 Mar 05 02:41 PM Oh, don't worry, I was born with a silver spoon: my father taught latin and greek, so I studied them too... "hubris" is a Greek word that I like a lot. It has to do with men thinking they are gods and acting accordingly, and it brought on a lot of misery upon mankind. At least that's how the ancient saw it, but I think they were not THAT wrong... pieanne