GREEK P REPOSITION?. 359 



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

 " difgraces." 



We find ngog frequently applied to denote that one object is 

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

 gulating object, we find the boundary which limits and defines 

 the idea in view. 'Eecc irgZrov vrgog dzvTSgov rov uvtov 'iyy\ Xoyov, 

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

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

 " — the fecond." Uotri<rag nglg to SzXrjpa, (Luke xii. 47.)* " ha- 

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

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

 " will." 



In this manner may rgog, 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 fact the radical fenfe of this prepofition, it may 

 be added, that among the mod ancient Greek writers, the poets> 

 the word itvri was ufed as fynonymous with ngog. This is com- 

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

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

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

 real caufe of the interchange I fufpect to have been, that tot< 

 and *§og, though two quite different words, came to have the 

 fame meaning affixed to them in the following manner. Hgog, 

 as we have feen, is a contracted cafe of mgug, a termination or 

 boundary ; kot), again, feems to be juft the Doric dative of vxg, 

 " the foot," for voh y agreeably to the common analogy of that 

 dialect. That the word fignifying the extremity of the human 

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

 ral, was perfectly 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 objects of every defcription. 



Vol. V.~ P.IL 3 A 2u*. 



