An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Ufer

by Friedrich Kluge

Ufer, n., ‘shore, bank (of a river),’ a MidG. and LG. word (adopted like Boot, Strand, &c., in the written language), from the equiv. MidHG. uover, n. OHG. *uofar (Goth. *ôfr?) is wanting; nor is the word known even now to the UpG. dialects. Comp. MidLG. ôver, Du. oever, AS. ôfer (obsolete in E.; yet Windsor is equiv. to AS. Windles ôfer, ‘the bank of the Windel’). West Teut. ôfor has been considered, probably without reason, a cognate of Sans. ap, ‘water’ (for the evolution of meaning comp. Au), and Lat. amnis (for *apnis?), ‘river.’ UpG. (Bav.) urvar, ‘haven, landing-place, bank,’ of the MidHG. period, points rather to a Goth. *us-far, ‘haven’; Goth.-Teut. uz appears in some West Teut. dialects as ô (OHG. uo). Hence Ufer is lit. ‘departure, setting out’?.