Etymograph

English

oversow

Oversow comes from Old English ofersāwan ‘to sow seed over other sown seed’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *upér.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*upér1‘over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uber2‘over’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ofersāwan3‘to sow seed over other sown seed’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1565oversow3

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *uber
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Old English ofer-
  3. 3 Wiktionary, English oversow
  4. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1565, William Fulke, William Allen: “The which contrary corrupt seede of false doctrine we…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*upérWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *uber‘over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*uberWiktionary, Old English ofer-‘over’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150ofersāwanWiktionary, English oversow‘to sow seed over other sown seed’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1565oversowWiktionary, English oversow. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1565, William Fulke, William Allen: “The which contrary corrupt seede of false doctrine we…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *upér ‘over’

super, supreme, summary, uber, sovereign, soprano, supra, consummate, summa, 19 more

Today it means

verb To sow (seed) where something has already been sown.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “oversow”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Proto-Germanic *uber, Old English ofer-. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *upér / oversow

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