GREEK P REPOSITIONS. 359 



" afflldlions, — bounding point, — point to which they reach, — 

 " difgraces." 



We find urfoj frequently applied to denote that one objedl is 

 affedled, regulated or governed by another ; becaufe, in the re- 

 gulating objedt, we find the boundary which limits and defines 

 the idea in view. 'Y.av ■tt^cdtoii ■jt^os isvTi^ov rov avroit iyJ"^ y.oyo^, 

 (Euclid), " if the firfl have the fame ratio to the fecond," — " if 

 " the firft have the fame ratio, — defining boundary of the ratio, 

 " — the fecond." Tloirja-u; Trgcg to ^eX;j^a, {^Luke xii. 47.)j " l^a- 

 " ving adled according to his will," — " having adled, — bound- 

 " ary or limits within which the acflion was confined, — his 

 " will." 



In this manner may ■z^og, varied and anomalous as it appears, 

 be traced through all its applications to one determinate idea. 



In fupport of the opinion now ftated, that boundary, limit, or ter- 

 mination, was in fadl the radical fenfe of this prepofition, it may 

 be added, that among the moft ancient Greek writers, the poets,, 

 the word tot* was ufed as fynonymous with vfoi. This is com- 

 monly faid to be according to the Doric dialed: ; but fo great a 

 change of the word does not, I think, fall within the ufual rules 

 of formation of that or any other dialed of the language. The 

 real caufe of the interchange I fufped to have been, that "iroTt 

 and ff^os, though two quite different words, came to have the 

 fame meaning afiixed to them in the following manner. Ilfo?, 

 as we have feen, is a contraded cafe of ^rs^aj, a termination or 

 boundary ; •sot), again, feems to be juft the Doric dative of «■»'{, 

 " the foot," for volt, agreeably to the common analogy of that 

 dialed. That the word fignifying the extremity of the human 

 body fliould be extended in ufe to denote a termination in gene- 

 ral, was perfedly natural, as it can hardly be doubted, that in 

 many inftances the names of the parts of the human body were 

 transferred by analogy to exprefs the different forms of pofition. 

 in fenfible objeds of every defcription. 



VoL.Y.— P.IL 3 A l.]n. 



