52 ETYMOLOGY AND SYNTAX. 



PREPOSITIONS. 



FormaiAon of Prepositions. 



§ 226. Prmdtives. Three of the prepositions, ni, in ; si, to ; and ti, from^ are re- 

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

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

 d^oko ti mi. Tie sat hy me^ i. e. touching me. But at present the most usual meaning 

 of ' ti' \sfrom. 



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

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

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



a. ba, to meet., becomes bd, witTi,fo9\ from ; as, 6 bd. mi 16h, Tie went witTi rne i 

 6 bd mi vk d,die, Tie hougTit a fowl fromi me ; bd mi wd aso, seeTc dotlifor me., i. e. help 

 me to procure some cloth. If this w^ord were construed as a preposition, it would 

 follow the verb ; as, 6 16h bd mi ; but the phrase would be unintelligible to a 

 native of Yoruba. 



h. fi, to moTce^ becomes fi, witTi ; as, 6 fi ida ^dq. Tie smote witli a sww'd. 



G. fu, to give^ becomes fu, to, for • as, wi fu ii, speaTs to Tiim / mo r^ S fu, I 

 hougTit it for Tiim. 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 1;o the preceding nominative, and the verb which follows is an 

 infinitive. 



d. m6, to adTiere^ and t6, to approacTi^ to follow^ are used for to / as, kaq S mo igi, 

 nail it to tTie wood ; th mi wdh, come to me. 



e. kd, to place^ set^ and lu, to striTce^ are employed for on j as, gbe e kd ina, set it 

 on tTiefire ; 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, m; si, to; or \j\ from; as, nino, m, witTiin^ from in6, tJie 

 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 ?/p, 

 down^ within.^ witTiout^ c&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 prefix ' 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 /rom the subject to the object. Motion from 

 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 which the relation 

 exists between the subject and the object ; as, 16do (li odo), down, employed after 

 verbs of rest or fixedness ; sodo (si odo), down, employed after verbs of motion to 



