ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



PREPOSITIONS. 



Formation of Prej)ositions. 



§ 226. Primitives. Three of the prejiositious, ui, in ; si, to ; and ti^ from, are re- 

 garded as primitives. It is not improbable, however, that ' ti ' is the verb ti, to ^^ush, 

 to prop. Retaining a trace of this meaning, it becomes a preposition, ti, hxj ; as, 6 

 d^oko ti mi, lie sat by me, i. e. touching me. But at present the most usual meaning 

 of 'ti' is from. 



§ 227. Verbs ernployed for Prepositions. Many verbs are employed as prepo- 

 sitions, although they still continue to be construed as verbs. A few examples \al\ 

 be given here ; the remainder will be found in the Dictionary. 



a. ba, to meet, becomes bd, with, for, from ; as, 6 bA mi loh, he tvent tvith me ; 

 6 bd mi rk ddie, he bought a fowl from me ; bd mi wd aso, seeh doth for me, i. e. help 

 me to procure some cloth. If this word were construed as a prejwsition, it would 

 follow the verb ; as, o loh bd mi ; but the phrase would be unintelligible to a 

 native of Yoruba. 



b. fi, to mahe, becomes fi, with ; as, 6 fi ida sdi], lie smote witli a sword. 



c. fu, to give, becomes fu, to, for ; as, wi fu li, speah to him ; mo rd a fu, I 

 bought it for him. But ' fu,' unlike ' bd ' and ' fi,' is construed as a preposition. 

 The reason is that ' fu ' wherever used is in the infinitive mode ; whereas ' bd ' 

 and 'fi' belong to the preceding nominative, and the verb Avhich follows is an 

 infinitive. 



d. mo, to adhere, and to, to approach, to follow, are used for to • as, kaq S m6 igi, 

 nail it to the toood ; th mi wdh, co7ne to me. 



e. kd, to place, set, and lu, to strike, are employed for on ■ as, gbe e kd ina, set it 

 on the fire ; 6 subu lu mi, it falls on me. 



§ 228. Compound Prepositions. We have already noticed the fact that the Yoruba 

 language has names for purely abstract relations, which in many other languages 

 are expressed by adverbs and prepositions. These abstract nouns are frequently 

 employed as adverbs ; but to make them available as prepositions, they must be 

 compounded with ni, in; si, to ; or \a, from ; as, nino, in, within, from ino, the 

 inside. 



§ 229. This account of prepositions leads us to notice the manner in which the 

 mind of the people contemplates relations. First, they regard the relations of up, 

 doivn, within, without, &c., as actual things, and give them names. Secondly, they 

 view these relations as fixed or permanent ; and to form adverbs of permanent rela- 

 tion, they prefi#ni ' or ' li ' to the abstract noun. This word ' ni ' denotes fixedness 

 of relation, and is always employed after the substantive verb, whence it may be 

 called the substantive preposition. Finally, the Yorubas contemplate the relations 

 as in a state of motion or emanation /yw/i the subject to the object. Motion //v?« 

 is invariably expressed by ' ti,' and motion to by ' si.' Thus from each noun of 

 relation are formed three prepositions, to point out the mode in Avhich the relation 

 exists between the subject and the object; as, lodo (li odo), down, emjjloyed after 

 verbs of rest or fixedness ; sodo (si 6do), dovm, employed after verbs of motion to 



