Page:An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language.djvu/395

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Teut. stem el, ol, the cognates of ModHG. Erle (Eller) are also connected.

um, adv. and prep. ‘about, around,’ from the equiv. MidHG. umbe (ümbe), OHG. umbi, cannot be regarded as directly corresponding to Gr. ἀμφί, Sans. abhi, ‘about,’ for then the OHG. form would be umb. OHG. unbi is rather a compound of this *umb, with the prep. bī̆, ‘by’; so too OSax. umbi, AS. ymbe (but ymb directly corresponds to Sans. abhi). —

umſonſt, adv., ‘in vain, to no purpose,’ from the equiv. MidHG. umbe sus. See ſonſt.

un-, prefix, ‘not,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. un-; a negative prefix common to Teut. and Aryan; comp. OSax. un-, Du. on-, AS. and E. un-, OIc. ó-. Corresponding to Gr. ἀ-, Lat. in-, Sans. and Zend a-, an-. With this prefix is connected the common Aryan negation nē̆, ‘not’ (see nicht), as well as the prep. ohne and its cognates.

Unbill, f., ‘iniquity, wrong,’ MidHG. only; based on the cognates of billig, instead of the correct ModHG. Unbilde, f., MidHG. unbilde, n., ‘wrong, impropriety,’ which is properly an abstract from MidHG. (rare) unbil (usually unbillîch), adj., ‘incongruous, unjust.’ On account of the meaning there is probably no direct historic connection with Bild. Comp. billig, and especially Weichbild.

und, conj., ‘and,’ from the equiv. MidHG. unt, unde, OHG. unta, unti (inti, enti); corresponding to OSax. ęndi, Du. en, AS. and E. and. Sans. útha, ‘also, further, and,’ points, like AS. and E. and, to Aryan nthá.

Unflat, m., ‘filth, dirt,’ from MidHG. un-vlât, m., n., and f., ‘dirtiness, untidiness’; to which is allied unflätig, adj. ‘filthy, nasty,’ from MidHG. unvlœtic, ‘unclean, untidy.’ OHG. *flât, ‘beauty,’ is met with only in female proper names (Sigi-, Muot-, Hruoī̆-flât). The early history of OHG. *flât (Goth. flêd, AS. flœ̂d in proper names) is obscure.

ungefähr, see ohngefähr.

ungeheuer, adj., ‘monstrous, atrocious,’ from MidHG. ungehiure, OHG. ungihiuri, ‘uncanny, frightful’; allied to Angeheuer, n., ‘monster,’ from MidHG. ungehiure, ‘savage, dragon, ghostly creature,’ OHG. ungihiurì, ‘monster.’ See geheuer.

ungeschlacht, see geſchlacht.

ungestüm, adj., ‘blustering, impetuous,’ from MidHG. ungestüeme, OHG. un-

gistuomi (unstuom), adj., ‘stormy, impetuous’; the unnegatived form of the adj. was extremely rare in OHG. and MidHG. Based on a verbal root stam, as in MidHG. stęmen (ModHG. stemmen, from *stamjan), ‘to check, restrain,’ which appears also in ModHG. stammeln. —

Ungetüm, n., ‘monster,’ early ModHG. only; unknown to the older periods. Early history obscure.

Ungeziefer, n., ‘vermin,’ from the equiv. late MidHG. ungezī̆bere, unzī̆ver, n.; properly ‘unclean beast not suited for sacrifice.’ It is based, in fact, on OHG. ‘zëbar, ‘beast of offering,’ which is connected with the equiv. AS. tîfer. The terms borrowed in Rom., OFr. toivre, ‘cattle,’ Portug. zebro, ‘ox, cow,’ prove that zëbar was applied to large animals, and that the word was widely diffused in OTeut.

Unke, f., ‘ringed snake,’ ModHG. only; in MidHG. ûche (OHG. ûhha), f., ‘toad’; MidHG. and OHG. unc, m., ‘snake.’ Probably the ModHG. word is due to a combination of the older forms.

unlängst, adv., ‘recently, of late,’ from MidHG. unlanges (unlange), ‘short time,’ with an excrescent t as in Obſt, Art.

Unrat, m., ‘trash, rubbish, refuse,’ from MidHG. and OHG. unrât, m., ‘helplessness, want, necessity, useless stuff’; allied to Rat.

uns, pron., ‘us, to us,’ from the equiv. MidHG. and OHG. uns, in the same form common to Teut. to supplement the declension of wir. Comp. Du. ons, OLG. and AS. âs (E. us), Goth. uns. This uns (from ns) is certainly connected with Lat. nos (noster), Gr. ἡμεῖς (for *ἀσ-μεῖς), and Sans. nas, ‘us’; comp. wir. — Allied to unser, poss. pron., ‘our,’ from MidHG. unser, OHG. unsêr, The detailed history of the prenom. stem belongs to grammar.

Unſchlitt, Inſchlitt (Inſelt), n., ‘suet, tallow,’ from MidHG. unslit (unselt), inslit (inselt), n., ‘tallow,’ of which there are abundant variants in MidHG. Comp. OHG. unslit, ‘fat, tallow’ (AS. unslid, or rather unflid, ‘fat, grease, tallow,’ is uncertain). MidHG. unsleht, ‘tallow’ (Rhen.-Franc. inschlicht), seems to be connected with MidHG. (in)geslehte, n., ‘entrails.’ The derivation of the word cannot be more definitely determined, since the older forms are unknown; Hess. and LG. ungel, ‘tallow,’ suggests the supposition that OHG. unslit has originated in *ungslit.

unten, adv., ‘below, beneath, under-