GREEK PREPOSITIONS. 313 



And immediately related to this meaning, — for or on ac- 

 count OF. 



iTTTijii Xyo^ TTovo'j, cifjt,(p) didXoif 



Aijpiii ej^ac Koci ^o-)(Sov, HesIOD. 



" The horfemen were labouring and in earneft contention — ob- 

 " jedl grafped in their contention — the prizes ;" — " obje(fl in 

 *' which their contention centred — the prizes." 



'fls S's Xeoers Sua; k^^i xr»fji,urii tXa.(poto 

 'AXXriXoii xoriovTS. HesioD. 



" As two lions irritated at each other — objed grafped in their ir- 

 " ritation — obje(fl in which their irritation centered— a flain 

 « hind." 



In every one of thefe, as well as in all its various applications, 

 we find u(A<fiiy a noun, afluming, from its ufe, the character of 

 what is termed a prepofition. 



A/A(p), fo far as I can find, is a prepofition either not at all or 

 very feldom to be met with in the writings of the Greek geome- 

 ters, ■TTi^I, being the word generally made ufe of by them for 

 about. The reafon I take to be, that this fcience, relating 

 chiefly to lines and furfaces, a^<p), which did not immediately, 

 but only indiredlly, denote thefe, was lefs proper for their pur- 

 pofe than w«j«, which, as we fliall afterwards fee, literally and ra- 

 dically meant « boundary. 



This prepofition a^a^) has not been naturalized in Latin * ; in- 

 flead of it circa and circum came into ufe, evidently the feminine 

 and neuter genders of the old adjedlive circus, the mafculine of 

 which we find in common ufe as a fubftantive noun, denoting a 

 round body, the primitive of circulus a circle. Circa and circum, 

 therefore, properly denote a line going round a place or objeEi. 



S s 2 Here, 



* Except in the infeparable prepofition am, denoting ahout, a mutilation of 

 ilff, or rather of the original word before the ip was inferted. 



