überfragt sein

(phrase)

Meanings

1.
not knowing an answer
(Quite common phrasing when you don't know something. The verb "überfragen" itself is not used anymore.)

Word Family tap to show/hide

Root: *prek-

The core idea of this root was:

asking, pleading

The German fragen is on the more neutral side, as are the Slavic children of this root which are also about asking. The English to pray shifted toward a very “intense” and specific pleading.
German forschen (to do research) is more proactive, but at the core of it is also a question.

The Latin branch shifted a bit toward the idea of depending on the will of someone else. In English, this then shifted toward uncertain, risky, dangerous That’s where precarious and deprecate are from.

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