über is German for about....
From Wikipedia
The term in German
In German, über is used as a prefix as well as a word in its own right. Both uses indicate a state or action involving increased elevation or quantity in the physical sense, or superiority or excess in the abstract.
elevation: "überdacht" - roof-covered, roofed, [also: reconsidered, thought over]
quantity: "über 100 Meter" - more than 100 meters, "Überschall" - supersonic
superiority: "überlegen" - (adj) superior, elite, predominant. (verb) to consider
excess: "übertreiben" - to exaggerate, "überfüllt" - overcrowded
Über may be a preposition or an adverb depending on context. Eg. über etwas sprechen - to speak about something, über die Brücke - across the bridge.
Über also translates to over, above, meta, but mainly in compound words. The actual translation depends on context. One example would be Nietzsche's term Übermensch, discussed below; another example is the Deutschlandlied, which begins with the well-known words "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles" meaning "Germany, Germany above everything" (though this strophe is not sung anymore).
The German word unter, meaning beneath or under, is antonymous to über. Unter can be found in words such as Untermensch, U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn = subway), U-Boot (Unterseeboot = submarine), as well as toponyms, such as Unter den Linden.
[edit]The term in English
[edit]Origins
The crossover of the term "über" from German into English goes back to the work of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. In 1883, Nietzsche coined the term "Übermensch" to describe the higher state to which he felt men might aspire. The term was brought into English by George Bernard Shaw in the title to his 1903 play Man and Superman. During his rise to power, Adolf Hitler bastardized Nietzsche's term, using it in his descriptions of an Aryan master race. It was in this context that American Jewish comic book creator Jerry Siegel encountered the term and conceived the 1933 story "The Reign of Superman," in which "Superman" is "an evil mastermind with advanced mental powers".[1] Throughout the following decade, Siegel, and Joseph Shuster, recast Superman into the iconic American hero he subsequently became. It is through this association with Superman the hero that the term "über" carries much of its English sense implying irresistibility or invincibility.
