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Re: Ur-books

Subject: Re: Ur-books
From: Jan Henning <henning -at- r-l -dot- de>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jan 2004 18:10:25 +0100

Ur was the town where Job lived (as in "The Book of Job" and "the patience
of Job"). It's often used in the sense of "the oldest" or "the original"
("ur-man")--almost like "proto-man".

The meaning is described correctly, the etymology isn't (according to Chambers dictionary): "Ur-" is a German prefix meaning "the protoypical" or "the oldest". It has been borrowed in this meaning by the English. "Ur-" appears to have common roots with "out".

And, while we're at it: It's not "uber", it's "über". (I know that everybody in the English world mispronounces it "uber", but that's no excuse to misspell it as well ;-)

Regards
Jan Henning

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