An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/überwinden

by Friedrich Kluge

überwinden, verb, ‘to wind over; overcome, conquer,’ from Middle High German überwinden, Old High German ubarwintan, strong verb, ‘to excel, overpower, conquer’; also with an equivalent meaning Middle High German überwinnen, Old High German ubarwinnan. While the simple Old High German verb wintan means ‘to turn, turn round,’ Old High German winnan (compare Anglo-Saxon oferwinnan) has the signification ‘to contend, quarrel’ (compare gewinnen), which appears in the compound. The t, winch properly belongs only to the present stem in this sense, is the samne as in Old High German stantan, swintan (see stehen, schwinden).