An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/überwinden

by Friedrich Kluge

überwinden, vb., ‘to wind over; overcome, conquer,’ from MidHG. überwinden, OHG. ubarwintan, str. vb., ‘to excel, overpower, conquer’; also with an equiv. meaning MidHG. überwinnen, OHG. ubarwinnan. While the simple OHG. vb. wintan means ‘to turn, turn round,’ OHG. winnan (comp. AS. oferwinnan) has the signification ‘to contend, quarrel’ (comp. gewinnen), which appears in the compound. The t, winch properly belongs only to the present stem in this sense, is the samne as in OHG. stantan, swintan (see stehen, schwinden).