Where does “over-” come from?

over- (Middle English) comes from Old English ofer-, from Proto-Germanic uber, from Proto-Indo-European upér, from Proto-Indo-European upó, from Proto-Indo-European h₃ewp-.

Ancestry of “over-”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Englishofer-used to form nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs...
2Proto-Germanicuberover; over, above
3Proto-Indo-Europeanupérabove; over
4Proto-Indo-Europeanupóunder, below
5Proto-Indo-Europeanh₃ewp-—

Words derived from “over-”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European h₃ewp- →Every word from Proto-Indo-European upó →Every word from Proto-Indo-European upér →