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Jan Henning wrote:
>> Ur was the town where Job lived (as in "The Book of Job" and "the
>> patience
>> of Job"). It's often used in the sense of "the oldest" or "the
>> original"
>> ("ur-man")--almost like "proto-man".
>
> The meaning is described correctly, the etymology isn't (according
to
> Chambers dictionary): "Ur-" is a German prefix meaning "the
> protoypical" or "the oldest". It has been borrowed in this meaning
by
> the English. "Ur-" appears to have common roots with "out".
>
