GREEK P REPOSITIONS. 311 



I fliall be fatisfied to take them as they occur m the order of the 

 alphabet. 



The near relation which this prepofition bears to the adjec- 

 tive ufji,(pa>, both, and the adverb a[ji,<pt(, on both fides, evidently 

 points out an identity of origin as well as affinity of meaning. 

 All three appear to be immediately derived from the obfolete 

 verb «/Aiii, to embrace or grafp *. From a^w it is probable came 

 the verbal adjedlives «;«,oj and «,a<f, fignifying grafped or embra- 

 ced. From many examples in the more ancient Greek writers, it 

 appears to have been a frequent pradice either to add to words the 

 termination (p<, or fimply to infert the letter (p before the termi- 

 nation. Of this lad, the inftances are not unfrequent in Ho- 

 mer and Hesiod, as o%s<rip/ for Ijiai, y.i(r<p(x, for what appears to 

 have been originally l^i(Tu, and iwriipi for what I fibould fufpedl 

 had been originally 'ivv>i' or 'iwij f. By a fimilar infertion, a/toj 

 and «/a;5 became uf/,(pos and a.(Jt.<pi{, both of them fignifying, as be- 

 fore, grafped or embraced. A/*<pa;, the dual number of a,[j^(pog, thus 

 exadtly expreffed two objects, grafped, embraced or united, the pre- 

 cife idea denoted by the term both. To a'//.(p<s, exprefllng grafp. 

 ed, fome common word denoting place, object, or the like, be- 

 ing at firfl ufually joined, and afterwards in common ufe 

 omitted, as being univerfally underftood, a'^(p<5 and its oblique 

 cafe a(!A(p* came to fignify literally place or obje£l grafped, e'mbra- 

 ced, or comprehended. 



Vol. v.— P. II. Ss Hence 



• The root of the common Greek verb i\uMy to reap, (literally to gather toge- 

 ther the fruits of the earth), and of the Latin verb amo, to love, originally deno- 

 ting to grafp at or flrive to obtain. 



t Perhaps the (p thus inferted was originally the ^olic digamma ; a letter com- 

 mon in the moft ancient Greek, writings, and it feems probable, pronounced not 

 unlike the f. 



