Revision as of 14:53, 19 January 2013

French translations of this preposition, prefix, verbal & nominal particle: au-dessus de, chez soi, re-, encore, sur-, dé-, trans-

Preposition / Adverb

• I walked over the bridge.
• I walked over to his office.
• I just walked over.
• I just walked it over.

over vs. above

• Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high...

Everyone knows Dorothy's song from the movie Wizard of Oz (1939). (movie version of Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 1900)

A photographer I've met in Paris has named her blog "Somewhere over my rainbow", an image that I must admit has grown on me over the years.

It seems to me that in these examples over has the sense of beyond (au délà de). Like beyond, "over" encompasses a lot of space, all the space above the rainbow. "Somewhere above the rainbow" does not imply all the space above, just a point in space. Imagine a transatlantic flight from Helsinki to New York:

• ^?First, we flew above the North Sea, then above the North Atlantic
• First, we flew over the North Sea then over the North Atlantic.

Prefix

• overcom(e/ing)
• overlap(ping) -- chevaucher
• overlook(ing) -- miss out, surplombant,
• oversee(ing)
• overrul(e/ing)
• overtak(e/ing) -- dépasser

Particle