ur-

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See also ur, Ur, and úr

Contents

[edit] English

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[edit] Etymology

From German ur-, originally from Old High German, ir-, or ur- meaning thoroughly.[1] The OED attributes the first attestation in English to Max Müller (1864), in composition with -vocal: "the neutral vowel, sometimes called Urvocal, better Unvocal."

[edit] Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʊə/, /ɜː/

[edit] Prefix

ur-

  1. Forming words with the sense of ‘proto-, primitive, original’.
    • 2003, John Adcox, 'Can Fantasy be Myth? Mythopoeia and The Lord of the Rings', The Newsletter of the Mythic Imagination Institute[1]:
      "Some stories reach deeper, into the most primal and profound truths. They mirror, in new and original ways, the Ur-myth, the act of creation itself."
    • 2007, Max Rodenbeck, ‘Lebanon's Agony’, New York Review of Books, vol. 54 no. 11:
      "...Lebanon ultimately remains hostage to the regional ur-conflict over Palestine."

[edit] Usage notes

  • Unlike most prefixes this prefix often forms words spelled with a hyphen.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Related terms


[edit] Irish

[edit] Etymology

From Old Irish er. Akin to ar.

[edit] Prefix

ur-

  1. over-

[edit] See also


[edit] Old High German

[edit] Prefix

ur-

  1. thoroughly[1]

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] References

  • Notes:
  1. 1.0 1.1 Ur-, in the Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 1974 edition.