Ursprache

[ oor-shprah-khuh; German oor-shprah-khuh ]

noun

1. a hypothetically reconstructed parent language, as Proto-Germanic, the ancestor of the Germanic languages.

Ursprache

/ ˈuːrʃpraːxə /

noun

1. any hypothetical extinct and unrecorded language reconstructed from groups of related recorded languages. For example, Germanic is an Ursprache reconstructed by comparison of English, Dutch, German, the Scandinavian languages, and Gothic; Indo-European is an Ursprache reconstructed by comparison of the Germanic group, Latin, Sanskrit, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ursprache¹

< German, equivalent to ur- ur- ³ + Sprache speech

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ursprache¹

from ur- primeval, original + Sprache language

Example Sentences

The eighth-grader from Spring Lake, N.J., won with ursprache.

From Time Magazine Archive