In at least 3 three languages that I know (Twi & Ga, major languages in Ghana, and English), the literal meaning evokes the sense of standing or sitting under something. I wonder if it is the same in many other languages
The (I think most common) word for 'understand' in Japanese translates to something like 'it resolved for me'.
verstehen, vergehen (active), vergehen (passive), verdammen, verabreden, verfahren, verlaufen, verfestigen, verändern, verallgemeinern, veranschaulichen, veranlassen (ver+an+lassen), verlassen, verärgern, verarmen, verbiegen, verdrehen, ...
It's hard to grasp, but I think "ver" has some subliminal meaning. The "ver" words feel different than their synonyms.
It can be broken down to 8 different cases according to Duden and there is actually some logic behind it (though not the best and most consistent :D).
I too have wondered about the flavor and basic influence these kind of things must have on those who use the language. I suspect the effect is small, but there, although this particular example might be spurious.
> The word understand would be "érteni", and I'm not sure it has any interesting roots other than "ér" meaning vein or stream (potentially, did you get its meaning / source?)
It's worth noting that "érint" (the verb "touch") appears to have the same root as "ért".
An interesting thing to note is that "hypothesis" has almost the same litteral meaning as "understand". "hypo" means under/above and thesis means "to put, to place something" or "position"