Under- and over- seem to be prefixes with contrary meanings. But with the example of undertake and overtake, I don't see contrary meanings between them. Am I missing something?
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If you're a reckless overtaker, you might find yourself giving business to the undertaker. – Barrie England Oct 10 '11 at 07:24
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Thanks! Would you explain what you mean? – Tim Oct 10 '11 at 07:37
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An undertaker deals with funeral arrangements. Although the name is derived from the fact that they "undertake" the arrangements. – Urbycoz Oct 10 '11 at 08:09
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As Urbycoz said. Perhaps not found in AmEng. – Barrie England Oct 10 '11 at 08:53
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By themselves, under and over are antonyms, but as prefixes the same rule doesn't always apply.
The prefix under has several meanings:
beneath, below : underarm, undercarriage
lower in rank : undersecretary
not enough : underdeveloped
The prefix over also has several meanings:
excessively, completely : overconfident, overburdened, overjoyed
upper, outer, over, above : overcoat, overcast
Over and under are sometimes contrary prefixes, but only when they both refer to the same aspect of something. For example, one can overapply or underapply sunscreen depending on how much they use. In this case, over refers to its meaning of "excessively" while under refers to its meaning of "not enough".
Now, in your specific examples, these rules do not apply. Undertake is formed partially from German loan words, rather than from putting together two English words to form a compound. In this case,
"The under in this word may be the same one that also may form the first element of understand."
Because of this, overtake and undertake won't have contradictory meanings.
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I wonder why Etymonline says that it is "a partial loan-translation" from German. The OED doesn't say anything about this. – Colin Fine Jul 27 '11 at 10:40
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There's also the question of what under and over are in relation to in each word. When undertaking a task, you're on top of it (the task). When overtaking someone, you're above him/her. It can be seen as a matter of perspective. – Oct 10 '11 at 08:14
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The common meaning of overtake is to catch up with, or surpass.
Most common meanings of undertake involve taking on a task or obligation
The closest I can get to 'opposite meaning' is that undertake can be used in a motoring context, to mean "pass by another vehicle on the inside (nearest the kerb)" (normally one passes on the outside, nearest the centre of the road). I think that usage occurs in the British Highway Code, where it's specifically presented as bad practice (even on motorways where several lanes may actually be moving at much the same speed).
FumbleFingers
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Incidentally, that meaning of "on the inside" is bizarre to Americans. While what we actually say is "passing on the right" [left hand drive imperialists that we are], e.g. "outside lanes" means those furthest from the centerline. – Random832 Jul 27 '11 at 05:13
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1not only is it "bad practice" its actually illegal in the UK to pass someone on the nearside UNLESS their queue of traffic is moving slower than the one you are in (i.e. a filter lane on the left allowing the nearside queue to move whilst the offside queue remains still). – Mauro Jul 27 '11 at 07:18
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Are you sure it's used in the Highway Code? I can't find it there, and I would always regard such usage as humorous. – Colin Fine Jul 27 '11 at 10:52
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1@Colin Fine: I haven't read the Highway Code since passing my test over 40 years ago. I recall thinking the word "undertake" was an unusual usage at the time, but I really couldn't say if I read it or if it was said by my father who taught me to drive. All I know for sure is I first met the usage while I was learning to drive, and at the time it wasn't being used humorously. – FumbleFingers Jul 27 '11 at 17:27
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...anyway, Wikipedia doesn't think it's a joke... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Undertaking_(driving) – FumbleFingers Jul 27 '11 at 17:29
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You don't want to go believing everything you read in Wikipedia. Of the references in that article, only one uses the word "undertake" (in that sense) and that is the "londonskaters.com" website, which is not necessarily a reliable source. I may well have a go at improving that article, but if I do I will relegate the word "undertake" to a passing note, as it is barely supported by references. Clearly the word does receive some use, but it's pretty marginal, and it hasn't made it into the OED even though you met it 40 years ago. – Colin Fine Jul 28 '11 at 16:55
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@Colin Fine: I cited the Wikipedia article to substantiate a usage which I've known of for 40 years, not to establish whether that usage exists in the first place. And I only put it in my Answer to indicate that the word can be used in that way, not claiming that it was commonplace. Simply to prove that true "antonymic" usage is not impossible for OP's word-pair, as others seemed to assume. – FumbleFingers Jul 28 '11 at 17:00
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@FumbleFingers. Fair point. But it's a very strange sort of antonym: "pass on the left" vs "pass on the right". – Colin Fine Jul 28 '11 at 17:08
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@Colin Fine: Erm. In the US, wouldn't that be "pass on the right" vs "pass on the left"? But it seems like a perfectly normal use of the word "antonym" to me, even if the usage being referred to isn't particularly "normal" / common. – FumbleFingers Jul 28 '11 at 17:12
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As the other answers indicate, 'overtake' and 'undertake' are not really antonyms.
Undertaking has a meaning 'person who manages burials (of dead people)'. I don't think I've ever heard anyone use 'overtaking' to refer to the opposite processes (whether that's managing a birth or grave-robbing).
In the context of driving, undertaking and overtaking are similar operations (moving past a slower-moving vehicle), and the oppositeness comes from which side of the vehicle you go past (and that, in turn, depends on whether your country drives on the left or the right of the road). There are grim jokes about undertaking (on a highway) leading to the undertakers.
Jonathan Leffler
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