The story
- Proto-Germanic · inherited from*ubirfallaną
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*obarfallan
- Old English · inherited fromoferfeallan“to fall upon, attack”
- Middle English · inherited fromoverfallen
- English todayoverfall
From Middle English overfallen, from Old English oferfeallan (“to fall upon, attack”), from Proto-West Germanic *obarfallan, *ubirfallan, from Proto-Germanic *ubirfallaną; equivalent to over- + fall. Cognate with Dutch overvallen (“to raid, overtake”), German überfallen (“to assault, attack, raid”), Swedish överfalla (“to attack”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.