An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics

A prefixal use of over with the sense of “over the limit,” “to excess,” “too much” to form verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and nouns, e.g. → overabundance; → overdense; → overestimate.

Etymology (EN): O.E. ofer, from P.Gmc. *uberi (cf. O.S. obar, O.Fris. over, O.H.G. ubar, Ger. über, Goth. ufar “over, above”), from PIE *uper; cf. Gk. hyper, preposition and adverb, “over, beyond, overmuch, above;” cognate with L. super- and Pers. abar-, as below.

Etymology (PE): Biš- “much, more; in excess; great” (from Mid.Pers. veš “more, longer; more frequently,” related to vas “many, much” (Mod.Pers. bas);
O.Pers. vasiy “at will, greatly, utterly;” Av. varəmi “I wish,” vasô, vasə “at one’s pleasure or will,” from vas- “to will, desire, wish”).
Abar, variant bar “on, upon, up;” Mid.Pers. abar; O.Pers. upariy “above; over, upon, according to;” Av. upairi “above, over,” upairi.zəma- “located above the earth;” cf. Gk. hyper- “over, above;” L. super-; O.H.G. ubir “over;” PIE base *uper “over”).