Origin and history of super-

word-forming element of Latin origin meaning "above, over" in place or position; also in manner, degree, or measure, "over, beyond;" from Latin super (adverb and preposition) "above, over, on the top (of), beyond, besides, in addition to." This is from *(s)uper-, variant form of PIE root *uper "over."

In English words from Old French, it appears as sur-. Most of the Latin compounds in it are post-classical; it has been a living element in English since 15c. In Medieval Latin and Romanic languages it can be confused with related supra-, and some English words exist in both forms.

In 17c., when many English compounds in super- were coined in religious and spiritual writing, the notion in it was "beyond; not partaking of." Hence superordinary "excellent, better than what is common or usual" (1620s); supersensual "above or beyond the senses, imperceptible to human sense" (1680s); super-rational "that is above or beyond the scope of reason" (1680s).

But it also was used in the sciences in the sense of "in or to the highest or a very high degree," and has come to be felt popularly as "in an exaggerated degree, very much," as in supersensitive "extremely sensitive" (1839); supercool "very fashionable" (1970), which runs contrary to the old sense. Hence supersexual, attested by 1895 as "transcending sexuality; 'platonic' " and by 1968 as "sexual in an extreme degree." Also compare superhuman, which in the 1630s meant "divine, above or beyond what is human," but, by c. 1800, also, and typically since, meant "above the powers or nature of man."