ur-text

[keitra]

What is ur-text?

[ulrika]

"ur" is an abbreviation for 'your'. So "ur text" is probably a reference to 'your text message'.

[Quizmonster]

I don't know anything at all about text-messaging, so 'ur' probably does mean 'your' in these modern circumstances, as Ulrika says.

However, 'ur' as a prefix - based on German - means 'primitive' or 'original'. Thus, for me an 'ur-text' would refer to the original manuscript of a piece of writing. Someone might, for example, speak about: "the ur-text of 'Hamlet'" in comparison with the altered/modified version that Shakespeare eventually produced.

[cardinal]

What would we do without you Quizzy?