Ursprache

American  

[oor-shprah-khuh, oor-shprah-khuh] / ˈʊərˌʃprɑ xə, ˈurˌʃprɑ xə /

noun

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

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Ursprache British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of Ursprache

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

Example Sentences

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

From Time Magazine Archive