Ursprache

The winner of the Scripps spelling bee won by correctly spelling a German word that literally means 'the speech of Ur' (see below). On its own this word would warrant mention in an ancient history blog, but the Rogue Classicist, who followed the spelling bee, notes that there were other words of classical origins in the spelling contest, some of which he couldn't spell -- probably because of the antihistamines he seems to have been taking in abundance. Read David Meadows' report on the Scripps Spelling Bee

See a picture of the elated winner Katharine "Kerry" Close.

Etymology: elated
Latin - elatus 'elevated,' from efferre (ex- 'out' + ferre 'carry').

I received the following email:

I noticed today that you state that the etymology of Ursprache is "the langauge of Ur". Is this correct? I thought that the "ur" is a German prefix that means "ancient" or "original", and this I was able to verify from several online etymological dictionaries. However, some sites list your etiology, so I am confused. Can you shed any light? Thanks!! Barbara

Ur language is the name of the hypothetical protolanguage. I hope someone else will post a comment with more information.