GREEK PREPOSITIONS. 331 



he will fight, — medium to bring about his fighting, — the pro- 

 fpect of benefiting the Athenians." 



'Ou rocrov a.^uvccrcov ciyiftev crirevdxiri §vij\o\g 



"Oosov wyeigofAivav }>ioi KaXXecc TrctgdwxoKM. Mus^lUS. 



" They haften, not with the view of celebrating religious rites 

 " in honour of the gods, but for the fake (or on account) of the 

 " beauty of the damfels who afTemble on thefe occafions ;'■ — 

 c * they haften, — medium or pafTage to induce them to do fo, — 

 " the beauty of the damfels,— the profpect of meeting the afTem- 

 " bled damfels." 



In feveral of thefe applications of hoi to caufation, particular- 

 ly the laft, it mufl be admitted, that the mode of expreflion is 

 elliptical and circuitous J in all of them, however, it is eafy to 

 trace> either immediately or remotely, the radical fenfe of fox as 

 a noun, modified by ufe into a prepofition. 



This prepofition, as well as iv, was fuppofed by Dr Moor to 

 have been originally the numeral adjective &g, /»<«, iv, both pre- 

 pofitions, denoting, as he conceived, the one /pace j that is, the 

 fpace immediately adjoining the object fpoken of. This idea, 

 though ingenious, appears clogged with infurmountable diffi- 

 culties. Elg and iv are by no means fo nearly the fame in mean- 

 ing as this derivation would make them. Linnep derives etg 

 from the verb e<y, to fend \ — a derivation undoubtedly forced and 

 unnatural ; and Scheide makes etg a contraction of «<ny, within^ 

 evidently reverfing the analogical order of the language, &s be- 

 ing in fact the parent of ilea. 



None of thefe deductions being at all fatisfactory, for ex- 

 plaining the various ufes of «?, we mufl have recourfe to fome 

 other origin of the wordj and one better adapted to the purpofe 



may. 



