or-, prefixfrequent in OE., retained in a few words in ME., now obs.exc. in ordeal, and perh. ort-s, where it is no longer recognized as a significant element. OE.or- was the stressed form (used in nominal compounds), corresp. to Goth.us-, ur-, ON.ór-, ör-, OHG., Ger.ur-, OS.ur-, or-, MDu.or-, oor-, Du.oor-, orig. an adv. and prep., meaning ‘out’. The unstressed form (in verbal compounds) was in OHG.ur-, ar-, ir-, MHG., MLG., MDu., Ger., Du.er-, OS., OE.a-. Thus OE.ordál, OS.urdêli, MDu.ordeel, MLG.ordêl, OHG.urteili, Ger.urteil decision, judgement; OE.adǽlan, OS.adêljan, OHG.arteilen, Ger.erteilen to decide, allot, share. The primary sense was ‘out’, as in Goth. and OHG.úrruns ‘outrunning, exit, exodus’, ON.órför out-going, departure; thence various derived senses, of which OE. had ‘out, completely, to an end’, as in orþanc ‘thinking out, contrivance, skill, intelligence’; ‘out and out’, ‘extreme’, in orięlda ‘extreme old age’; ‘outwardly, manifestly’, in orcnǽwe ‘recognizable’, orᵹiete ‘clearly perceptible, manifest’; and esp. ‘without, void of, bereft of’, as in the adjs.ormǽte ‘measureless, immense’, ormód ‘bereft of courage, despairing’, orsáwle ‘lifeless’, orwéne ‘without hope, desperate’, ortréowe ‘without trust, faithless’, orsorᵹ ‘without anxiety, secure’. (Cf. L. adjs. in ex-, as exanimis, excors, exossis, exsanguis.) In this last sense the prefix survived in early ME.: see ormete, ormod, orrath, ortrow.
or-
Prefix
no longer productive A prefix of Old English origin meaning: "from the outset", "original", "out", "out of", or "without".
ordalian, ordeal, orlay, ort
Etymology
From Middle Englishor-, from Old Englishor- (“or-”), from Proto-Germanic*uz- (“out”), from Proto-Indo-European*uds- (“up, out”). Cognate with West Frisianoar-, Dutchoor-/oer-, Germanur-, Gothic𐌿𐍃- (us-). Identical with Old Englishā- (“a-”). More at a-.
Derived terms
► English words prefixed with or-
References
or- in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911