GREEK PREPOSITIONS. 313 



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

 count of. 



Aqgiv tfcov km) (/LoyQov. HesIOD. 



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

 " ject grafped in their contention — the prizes j" — " object in 

 4t which their contention centred — the prizes." 



'AXXriXoig zoriovre. HesioD. 



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

 " ritation — object in which their irritation centered —a flain 

 " hind." 



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

 we find dp<p), a noun, afTuming, from its ufe, the character of 

 what is termed a prepoiition. 



A[i<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, figi, 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, up<p), which did not immediately, 

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

 pofe than reg), which, as we fhall afterwards fee, literally and ra- 

 dically meant a boundary. 



This prepofition d^cp) 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 adjective 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 object. 



S s 2 Here, 



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

 apfi, or rather of the original word before the <p was inferted. 



