Dictionary verb unter verb unter (sep) *ar(ə)- ordnen unterordnen

unterordnen

(unter (sep))

Meanings

1.
to subordinate A to B
("A+Acc B+Dat unterordnen" - can be used for files, but it also works for priorities and human hierarchies. Also often used "reflexively" for a person "taking their place as a subordinate" or "accepting authority" - "sich+Acc unterordnen".)
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Word Family

Root: *ar(ə)-

The core idea of this root was:

fitting together

It’s the origin of a quite wide array of words that all in some way are about connecting parts or making parts fit.
Here’s a little (incomplete) overview:

  • arm (bones joined together into a whole)
  • arthritis (“related to joints”)
  • arm (tool fitted together, then “weapon”)
  • armor (again, stuff fitted together)
  • alarm (originally: “to the weapons”)
  • art, artificial, artist, artifact (“stuff fitted together”)
  • article (“part of a whole”)
  • articulate (“to say clearly, as separate parts”)
  • order (“fitted together”)
  • ordinary (originally “according to order”)
  • subordinate (“ordered below”)
  • harmony (“fitting tones”)
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