Re: What is ur-definition ?

At 00:15 01/02/14 -0500, Noah_Mendelsohn@lotus.com wrote:
>As to the name, I don't speak German, but I believe ur is an abbreviation for
>$B—C(Ber", which I believe translates as "above" or upper, and is commonly
>used as a prefix adjective.

I happen to speak German, and I don't think there is that much
of a relation between ur- and u"ber- (sorry for the spelling,
my Japanese mailer won't let me do better). Ur- appears in
things such as Ursprung (origin), Urgrossvater (great-grandfather),
Urknall (big bang), Ursache (cause, reason), Urheber (originator,
author), Urgewalt (elemental force), and so on.
The general meaning is something like 'original', 'very very old',
and so on.


Regards,   Martin.

Received on Sunday, 18 February 2001 04:37:20 UTC