ur-

See also: Appendix:Variations of "ur"

English

Etymology

From German ur-, originally from Old High German ir-, ur- (“thoroughly”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”), from Proto-Indo-European *uds- (“up, out”), from Proto-Indo-European *úd (same meaning). Cognate with Dutch oer-, English or-.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ʊə/, /ɜː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɝ/

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, volume 54, number 11:

     Lebanon ultimately remains hostage to the regional ur-conflict over Palestine.

Coordinate terms

• arch-, archi-, archo-, eteo-

Derived terms

English terms prefixed with ur-

• ur-ancestor
• ur-bird
• ur-continent
• ur-culture
• urelement
• ur-fascism
• urfly
• urfolk
• ur-form
• Ur-Germanic
• ur-Hamlet
• ur-hero
• ur-homeland
• ur-language
• ur-mind
• ur-myth
• ur-ocean
• ur-poem
• ur-race
• ur-science
• ur-source
• ur-speech
• urtext
• ur-type
• ur-vogel
• ur-word

 

Related terms

• Urheimat, urheimat

Translations

forming words with the sense of 'primitive'

• Danish: ur-
• Dutch: oer- (nl)
• Esperanto: pra- (eo)
• German: ur- (de)
• Hungarian: ős- (hu)
• Maltese: bu-, buż-
• Russian: пра- (ru) (pra-)
• Slovene: pra-
• Swedish: ur- (sv)

Anagrams

• Ru.

Bavarian

Etymology

From Middle High German ur-, from Old High German ur-, ir- (“thoroughly”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uɐ̯/, /uːɐ̯/
• Homophone: Uhr

Prefix

ur-

1. ur- (proto-, primitive, original)

   ‎ur- ‎Woid (“forest”) → ‎Urwoid (“primeval forest”)

   ‎ur- ‎Knoi (“bang”) → ‎Urknoi (“Big Bang”)

2. great-; indicates an additional generation of separation between relatives

   ‎ur- ‎Opa (“grandfather”) → ‎Uropa (“great-grandfather”)

   ‎ur- ‎Großtant (“great-aunt”) → ‎Urgroßtant (“great-great-aunt”)

3. (chiefly East Central Bavarian, Vienna) very; used to intensify adjectives

   ‎ur- ‎oid (“old”) → ‎uroid (“ancient”)

   ‎ur- ‎teier (“expensive”) → ‎urteier (“very expensive”)

   ‎ur- ‎klaa (“small”) → ‎urklaa (“very small, tiny”)

Derived terms

Bavarian terms prefixed with ur-

Danish

Prefix

ur-

1. ur-, proto-

Derived terms

Danish terms prefixed with ur-

German

Etymology

From Middle High German ur-, from Old High German ur-, ir- (“thoroughly”), from Proto-West Germanic *uʀ-, from Proto-Germanic *uz- (“out”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /uːɐ̯/, [ʔuːɐ̯] (standard)
• IPA^(key): /ʊʁ/, [ʔʊɐ̯] (by a common merger)

• Audio:

  (file)

Prefix

ur-

1. ur- (proto-, primitive, original)

   ‎ur- ‎Schrei (“scream”) → ‎Urschrei (“primal scream”)

   ‎ur- ‎Wald (“forest”) → ‎Urwald (“primeval forest”)

2. great-; indicates an additional generation of separation between relatives

   ‎ur- ‎Opa (“grandfather”) → ‎Uropa (“great-grandfather”)

3. (especially Austria) very; used to intensify adjectives

   ‎ur- ‎alt (“old”) → ‎uralt (“ancient”)

   ‎ur- ‎gemütlich (“cosy”) → ‎urgemütlich (“very cosy”)

Derived terms

German terms prefixed with ur-

• Urfaust
• Urmonotheismus

 

Descendants

• → English: ur-
• → Dutch: oer-

Gothic

Romanization

ur-

1. Romanization of 𐌿𐍂-

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish air-, ur-. Akin to ar.

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Connacht) IPA^(key): /ʊɾˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ʌɾˠ/

Prefix

ur-

1. before, ante-, pro-
2. (intensifying) very
3. Alternative form of for- (“over, superior, super-; outer, external; great, extreme”)

Derived terms

Irish terms prefixed with ur-

See also

• an-
• ro-

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Eclipsis	with h-prothesis	with t-prothesis
ur-	n-ur-	hur-	t-ur-
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “ur-”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “air-”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “ur-”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From German ur-.

Prefix

ur-

1. primeval, primordial, primitive, proto-
2. first, original
3. exceedingly, extremely, very (in adjectives)

References

Norwegian Bokmål terms prefixed with ur-

• “ur-” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From German ur-.

Prefix

ur-

1. primeval, primordial, primitive, proto-
2. first, original
3. exceedingly, extremely, very (in adjectives)

References

Norwegian Nynorsk terms prefixed with ur-

• “ur-” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *uʀ-.

Prefix

ur-

1. thoroughly

Descendants

• Middle High German: ur-
  • German: ur-
    • → English: ur-
    • → Dutch: oer-
  • Yiddish: אור־ (ur-)

Swedish

Prefix

ur-

1. aboriginal, primeval, proto-, original (with general connotations of old)
2. (colloquial, intensifier) very, super-

   Synonyms: as-, gör-, jätte-, skit-, svin-, vrål-, bauta-, (usually negative) piss-

   Han är urgammal

   He's super old

   Hon är urfånig

   She's super silly

Usage notes

• Gives connotations of ancient when put before nouns. "Urhammaren" could be translated as "the ancient hammer" without further context.
• Can be put before virtually any adjective or adverb as an intensifier.

Derived terms

• urdjur (“Protozoa”)
• urinvånare (“indigenous people”)
• urskog (“primeval forest”)
• urusel (“godawful”)