MASTER NEGA TIVE NO 92-80621-5 MICROFILMED 1992 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES/NEW YORK as part of the r^ ■ « "Foundations of Western Civilization Preservation Project Funded by the .._,^„ NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE HUMANITIES Reproductions may not be made without permission from Columbia University Library COPYRIGHT STATEMENT The copyright law of the United States - Title 17, United States Code - concerns the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material... niversity Library reserves the rieht to refuse to accept a copy order if, in its judgement, fulfillment of the order would involve violation of the copyright law. AUTHOR: MOOR, JAMES TITLE: ON THE PRAEPOSITIONS OF THE GREEK ... 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CT /// c Association for information and image Management IIOOWayneAvenue, Suite 1100 Silver Spring, Maryland 20910 301/587-8202 Centimeter 1 2 ill 3 4 5 6 iliiiiliiiiliiiilniil 7 8 9 10 llllilllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllMllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllNllllllllllllllll 11 12 13 14 iiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiiliiiili 15 mm imj TTT ITT I I I I I I I I I Inches 1.0 I.I 1.25 4.5 5.0 56 16.3 ;i I U£ "■ u 2.8 M M 4.0 1.4 2.5 2.2 2.0 1.8 1.6 MRNUFfiCTURED TO flllM STRNDRRDS BY fiPPLIED IMAGE, INC. ^.j ^ *- - !>-- - if iriw%i-»ii . >«__A *^_-i. A N p INTRODUCTORY ESSAY ON THE PR AEPOSITIONS OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE, I •ti f:; T0I2 eaaxixtois XAri:^. ON THE ON THE PR AEPOSITIONS OF THE GREEK LANGUAGE; A N INTRODUCTORY ESSAY; READ TO A LITERARY SOCIETY IN GLASGOW, ■ AT THEIR WEEKLY MEETINGS WITHIN THE COLLEGE. By JAMES MOOR LLD. Professor of Greek IN THE UNIVERSITY OF Glasgow. GLASGOW, PRINTED BY ROBERT AND ANDREW FOULI5, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY M.DCC.LXVI. \ \l A N INTRODUCT OR Y ESSAY ON THE PRAEPOSITIONS O F T H E GREEK LANGUAGE. WHEN I first began to give lectures on the Greek language, nothing gave me more uneasiness than the manner in which I found the Praepositions were explained ; even by those, who are, very de- servedly, celebrated, as the best Greek scholars of their times; such as BiidaeuSy in his Commen- taries \ H. Stephens J in his The- A 2 ( 4 ) saurus; the Gentlemen of Port- Koyal, in their Grammar ; and Vi- ccriis, in his Idioms :\vho is, in this part, the most copious of them all Their manner, universally, is this. In the course of their vast leading, they remaiked the seve- ral Latin praepositions by which one and the sam.e Greek praepo- sition might be neatly translated, at different times; and, in their books on the principles of the Greek language, they made a full enumeration of all these, which they took to be so many several significations of each Greek prae- position ; and with that they seem to have contented themselves, as a full explication of this part of the language; without pointing out any okc^ as the natural, pri- ' ^5 ) mary, and radical signification of the praeposition; or attempting to show any connexion, or ana- logy, between the several nume- rous acceptations which they af- fix to almost every one of the Greek praepositions, even when governing the very same Case ; nay more, they have not scrupled to assign to the same praeposition, while governing the same case, significations, sometimes intirely disparate, sometimes very nearly contradictory to each other, some- times altogether so ; without ap- prehending any imputation from thence to the Greek language, as capricious and barbarous, in that part of it; tho' in my opi- nion it would be so, in the high- est degree, were that really the /•oc^ ( 6 ) ' f rinc t'ri^'iT f***!! iio *-K#««* — .--^^ \ ( 7 ) ( ^ ) case. Thus they tell us that ttol^x sometimes signifies contrary to; as xaja T^v (pwr/y contrary to na- tures sometimes that it signifies compared with) duQ^coTroi, Troiooi rl aXXal ^cJa, Men^ compared with the other animals^ Bioreuovai ci^vceo Qeol, says Socrates, in Xen. two sig- nifications quite disparate. In truth, the praeposicion signifies neither one nor t'other, but real- ly answers always exactly to our English praeposition ^y, or near. so they say that,^T/ sometimes sig- nifies over, and sometimes under;. thus, EITI KXouuhoif Kcuactoo^, sUB Claudio Caefarc) Uo^ o EIll Ti^aivrcov DeussvpRAomnes. these two sig- nifications again are contradicto- ry, the one to the other. The word, however, signifies neither ] ( 7 ) over, nor under-, but always up- on exactly; whereas, under is al- ways expressed by vtto, and her by oTti^. In fine, which is the most surprising of all, they tell us, all of them, that th sometimes signi- fies h, and, vice versa, ev sometimes signifies f/s; as iQaTTTlaBn EI2 lu^d- vriv, he was baptized in Jordan-, d.7Ci or even of different signi- B ( 10 ) ficatlons, deserves, in my opinion, to be accounted a language ca- pricious, and barbarous, to the highest degree; and the inventors of it, a race of mortals extremely savage, and of a very low degree of rationality. But the world has not that opinion of the Greeks, and their language. Far the con- trary; they are allowed to have been a most ingenious people; and to have cultivated and re- fined their language to the ut- most; even so far, as to furnifh, with ease, elegance, and perfect precision, the fullest range and compass of expression, for the most abstract ideas of the most • subtile metaphysics. It was also known, that, (whatever might be the case with the praepositions,) ( II ) in the other parts of the language, at least, there is, every where to be met with, the most elegant, easy, natural connexion, and transiti- ons from one acceptation of a word to another; so that one per- ceives,with ease and pleasure, how the secondary one took its rise from the primary. This might have afforded a presumption, that the praepositions were not singu- lar in this respect ; tho' the con- nexion of their different accepta- tions was not, at first sight, so ap- parent, as in some other parts of the language ; and the great ob- struction they occasioned, to the compassing a ready knowledge of the language, would seem to make the experiment of tracing out these connexions well worth try- B 2 ( 12 ) ing. I resolved to attempt it, at least; and that with the utmost application; and even to perse- vere in the attempt, tho' I should not be very successful at first; be- ing perfectly persuaded, that, in a language so exquisitely fine in o- ther respects, thefault would not lye in the language itself, as ut- terly destitute of all analogy in ihis part of it; but would certain- ly lye in my own want of skill to trace out that analogy; which perhaps might mend. I was more- over greatly excited to make such an inquiry, as I found that I could never teach this part of the lan- guage,with any sort of pleasure to myself, nor with any hopes of con- veying any easy, or satisfactory knowledge of it, to my scholars. C ^3 ) by pursuing the method of the Commentatorsa bovementioned. that is, for example, when, in one sentence of an author, there oc- curs the expression rd. mi efioi- to tell the scholars, as a sufficient ex- plication, that the praeposition eTci governs three several cases,and has many various significations with each case: particularly, with the dative it oftimes corresponds to the Latin praeposition penes, in the power of; as here, ra Wi i, lio),the things in my power. By and by, the very same words may oc- cur again in an historian, when one must be content to say, that, at other times, tit] with the dative corresponds often to the Latin praeposition pone, hehind;^% here, ja. i-Ki i[io} means the parts (of the ;( >4 ) army) behind me ; the battalions in my rear. Such a way of ex- plaining any pare of a language appears to me to be equally dis- agreeable, and uncomfortable, to the teacher, and to the scholar. Wishing then, of all things, not to be under the necessity of having recourse to such an un- promising method, I set about this inquiry with all the earnest- nefs I was capable of; and, as I had, in general, a notion, that, in perhaps all languages, each word had,originally,some one pri- mitive, radical, s\gm^C2it\on ; from which its other significations gra- dually took their rise, by meta- phor, and other natural analogies, arising from the various modes of human intercourse, commerce. ( '5 J war, laws, government, &:c; Ire- solved to try, first of all, whether this, perhaps, might not even be the case in the Greek praepositi- ons. With this view, I studied them carefully in the purest au- thors, when occurring in the most easy, simple, and natural expres- sions. By natural, I mean free, both from metaphor, and from any artificial turn of expression ; and also free from any abbrevia- tion, or words left to be under- stood. By pursuing this method, I fancied that I had, at length, dis- covered ; both, to each praepositi- on, one natural, primary, radical signification; and which could, al- most always, be expressed in one English word; and, at the same time, that I could perceive the na- (.16) tural reason, and foundation, why the same praeposition governed more Cases than one. Having gone thus far with each praeposition, not without some satisfaction and encourage- ment to proceed, tho' far from being fully assured that I was right: I took a careful review of them all; comparing these radi- cal significations together. From which survey of the whole, com- pared also with the flexions of nouns, I imagined, that I did plainly perceive the true use and design, in the Greek language, of that part of speech called prae- position* viz. that the three chief circumstances of relation, or con- nexion, in human life, are expres- sed by the flexions of nouns in ( >7 ) the three oblique cases; and, that all other circumstances, of relati- on, or connexion, are expressed by the praepositions. By the three chief circumstances of relation, or connexion, in human life, I mean POSSESSION, INTERCHANGEj and ACTION. Tosses sion, or the re- lation between the possessor and that which he possesses, by the genitive case] Interchange, or, mu- tual communication, whether of words, or things, by the dative case. Action, or, the relation be- tween the agent and what he a6ts upon, by the accusative case. All other relations were, I thought, in Greek, expressed by the praepo- sitions. These other relations, all, refer to Rest, or Motion-, TlacCy or Time) and are what theschool- C ( i8 ) men would call the Accidentia Motus et ^I'letis, Loci et Tem- poris. According to the mutual connexion between the ideas of place and time, all praepositions tx-^xtss place and time equally; tho', perhaps, place was the pri- mary idea, or signification, in all of them. With respect to mo- tion and rest; fome praepositions express only the one of these; and then they govern only one case. Others express both; an(J then they govern two cases ; one, when they express motion, the other, when they express rest. By tmti- on, in this inquiry into the signi- fication of the Greek praepositi- ons, I always mean progressive motion ; or, in common language, motion towards. When a Greek i . . ( >9 ) praeposition expresses only moti- on, the one case it governs is al- ways the accusative) or case of the active verb ; by a very proper and natural analogy in language; as all external action implies mo- tion towards that we act upon. If my hand strike the table, ic must move towards the tabic. When a praeposition expresses only rest^ or situation^ the one case which it governs is never the accusative; but always one of the other two oblique cases, the genitive, or dative. When the same praeposition expresses both motion and rest, it governs two cases; when motion, always the accusative, as before; when rest or situation, always one of the o- ther two; not interchangeably but C 2 ( 20 ) invariably) the one or other of the two. Thus the Greek It:)^ \vhich answers exactly to the En- glish praeposition up072j expresses both motion and rest. We say equally, /i6^^^// /J" FALLING upon tJ?€ <;i^roiind\ or, is lying upon the ground'^ in Greek, y\ aeral, a Greek praeposition governs a third case, it then expresses some one parti- cular, and remarkable mode of the general signification. Thus, ^m with the third case, the dative, expresses close upon) either in place y or in time) that is, next -he- hind, or next -after, for example; €7r/ ^juo/, when meant of place, sig- nifies next'behindme) when meant of time, fiext- after me. So, 'TIIO, answering precisely to our En- glish praeposition under; with the accusative expresses motion under) that is, motion tending un- der, or coming under) with the genitive, rest, or, situation, under. The ball is running under the iahle\ t 22 ) ( =3 ) t 22 ) Y, cpcu^cL KuXimrou otto Tr,v 7:^dxi(av. the hall is lying under the table, vTTo T?5 T^aTj^is. 'rno likewise governs the dative; and then it expresses such particular modes of UNDER, as we would express by saying, protecled under, siihjeB UNDER, dire&ed under ; as, vtto t5 raS, under the protection of the temple-, v~o rZ /Eaj/X«, si/bjeB un- der the king; utto t>) Xoooc, under the direclion of the tyre. ' To o-ive one instance more. EI2 and nP02 both signify to; but, with this difference; eli signifies wo/Zo;; to, and that only; therefore, go- verns only the accusative; Tt^oton the contrary, never signifies mo- tion to; but expresses any other kind of RELATION to; being of the most general and extensive ( 2^ ) meaning of all the Greek praepo- sitions; and answering to the En- glish expressions,r^/^//';?^ to ; with relation to; -with respeB to; and ic governs the accusative, in this its principal and primary significati- on ; but it governs also the dative ; and then it signifies those parti- cular relations to, which we ex- press in English by the words close to, or at; or, by the words united to; joined to; added to. These particular, or secondary significations I have only menti- oned, at present, so far as they make the praeposition govern a different case. The various other significations ofthat kind will pro- perl)^ come in under another head of this inquiry. To return. When I had, after a good deal ( M ) of pains, got thus far in my search into the proper, original, meaning and use of praepositions in the Greek ;language, and began to in- dulge myself in the fancy that I was not mistaken ; having consult- ed only the very best writers; viz. Plato, Xenophon,and Demosthe- nes ; yet, I wanted still, if possible, to put myself out of all scruple, or doubt; whether, in these signi- fications, which I had affixed to each Greek praeposition, as its proper, natural, and primary meaning, I might not have been sometimes deceived,by metaphor, artificial turn of expression, or fi- gure of speech, which had escap- ed my observation. To make sure of this, I refleded, at leno;ch, that, if they really did signify as ' «i ( 25 ) I had conjeftured; I should find them so signifying, and in such construction, and that perpetual- ly and invariably, clear of all me- taphor or figure ;in those writings, where the whole subjed was in- tirely relating to time ^iVidi place; motion and rest ; situation, positi- ony zxAfigure\ that is, in books of mechanics and geometry. With this view I immediately turned o- ver Aristotle's mechanics, and Euclid's elements. There I had the pleasure to find my conjec- tures completely verified, to the utmost of my expectation. My satisfaction was the greater, as my anxiety to conquer this, the most difficult, and moft troublesome part of the Greek language, had been very great. D ( 2<5 ) Being now perfedlly at ease as to the primary and natural signi- iicationSi I applied myself more chearfully to study the secondary and artificial ; that is, to deduce them from the original or prima' ry. Success in that study depends upon a proper attention to the genius of the Greek tongue, in the many beautiful, simple, na- tural, and easy, ways it takes to ab- breviate expression ; and to free language from the disagreeable and unnecessary cumber of a mul- titude of words to express ideas, which, tho' complex, are yet com- mon; and wliich, without load- ing the ear with the tedious enu- meration of all the several words expressive of all the simpler ideas which form the complex idea, can, \ ( =7 ) readily.and with perfeft precision, be apprehended by a proper se- ledlion of a few words. In case I be expressing myself obscurely, I shall mention one easy, remark- able,example; from a most elegant writer, Euclid. You make a full enumeration of all the \yords, when you say, " The parallelo- grammal, redlangular, space, con- tained by (any two streight lines, to wit ;) or, in Greek, ro y^^^i^^^ xa- vov vTTo. But Euclid, as soon as he has, by a few expressions, more complete, made his reader well acquainted with this complex i- dea ; very elegantly, as well as ve- ry judiciously, abbreviates the language for conveying it, into the moil simple expression of D 2 ( ^8 ) To'rno; the first and the last word; an expression, the farthest in the world from technical^ being, on the contrary, exactly according to the spirit and genius of the Greek language. So, alfo, juft in the fame man- ner, Euclid has 'h 'rno, for y\ ycovla. "Tti^W^OyiiVYl UTTO ; and, TO AHO, fpr TO jiT^dycdvov CLvcLyiyo(tijLyL€voy (Xtco. By attending to this part of the genius of the Greek language, I found, in time ; that, in every one of the Greek praepositions, all the several metaphorical, or seconda- ry significations, in whatever dis- para te,or even contradictory ways, they may come to be translated in another language, of a diffe- rent genius; and which, in con- veying briefly a complex idea,may, t i ( f9 ) often, among its several simpler ideas, seleft, for expressing the whole, some one, quite different from that one, which the Greek selects; yet, still, in the Greek it self, these secondary significati- ons, may, all of them, be properly deduced from the primary) by an analogy, not only plain, simple, and natural ; but, even, elegant, and beautiful; as might be ex- pefted, from the fine taste, and genius, of the people. I should, next, go on to exem- plify this, thoroughout all the Greek praepositions ; and, indeed, even prior to that, I should, first, ENUMERATE their ORIGINAL sig- nifications; as expressing the modes of motion, and of rest; position, or situation; which I ( 30 ) commonly do, by the familiar pradlice of shooting at butts; considering the arrow; first, in its motion, or flight, towards the mark; as likely to hit, or miss; and how far, and, in what respedl, to miss; as, by going over; under; aside; coming near; going wide; and so forth; then, after it is fix- ed, or at rest ; its situation, with resped to the mark. But these I shall defer to ano- ther opportunity; being sensible that I must have already tired the company sufficiently, with a sub- je