Now, despite the last post, I did not purpose a review of a text. Rather, my thoughts have been turned to the prepositions about which I have been reviewing today. Consider English, in which dozens of prepositions make their home. If you were to ask my Roman Catholic friends, Maryalice Ralston, and William Phillips, they could rattle off just about every English preposition in the English language, ALPHABETICALLY!!! They were forced to as good RC’s in an RC school. Thank the Lord for these nuns who demand obedience.
A list similar to the following (taken from wikipedia.org)
a (see “an” for usage in front of vowels.)
abaft
aboard
about
above
absent
across
afore
after
against
along
alongside
amid
amidst
among
amongst
an (see “a” for usage in front of consonants.)
apropos (“apropos of” is a common derived term.)
around
as
aside
astride
at
athwart
atop
barring
before
behind
below
beneath
beside
besides
between
betwixt
beyond
but
by
circa
concerning
despite
down
during
except
excluding
failing
following
for
from
given
in
including
inside
into
like
mid (from “amid”. Usually used poetically.)
midst (from “amidst”. Usually used poetically.)
minus
near
next
notwithstanding (also used post positionally)
of
off
on
onto
opposite
out
outside
over
pace
passim
past
per
plus
pro
qua
regarding
round
sans
save
since
than
through, thru (informal)
throughout, thruout (informal)
till
times
to
toward
towards
under
underneath
unlike
until
up
upon
versus, commonly abbreviated as “vs.”
via
vice, meaning “in place of”[1]
with
within
without
worth
Two words
according to
ahead of
as of
as per
as regards
aside from
because of
close to
due to
except for
far from
in to (contracted as into)
inside of (note that inside out is an adverb, not a preposition)
instead of
left of
near to
next to
on to (contracted as onto)
out from
out of
outside of
owing to
prior to
pursuant to
regardless of
right of
subsequent to
thanks to
that of
where as
[edit]
Three words
as far as
as well as
by means of
in accordance with
in addition to
in case of
in front of
in lieu of
in place of
in point of
in spite of
on account of
on behalf of
on top of
with regard to
with respect to
Archaic or infrequently used
anent
anti (loan word)
behither
betwixt
chez
cum (Latin loan word)
ere
fornenst
fornent
outwith
pro (loan word)
qua (loan word)
re (loan word)
sans (loan word)
‘twixt (from betwixt)
unto (largely supplanted by to; used in some formal, religious, or archaic contexts)
vis-à-vis (loan word)
Greek, on the other hand, at least, New Testament (Koine) Greek, has about 25 prepositions, given in the following list, which occur ten times or more in the Greek New Testament. I would love if you had anymore, if you could put them down as a comment beneath.
Easy by comparison to roughly 150 for English. Unfortunately, I have had to transliterate them, since blogger evidentally is not equipped to read Greek fonts. -ow means long -o sound as in low.
And when it says that certain prepositions occur with one case/two cases/three cases. That means Greek has cases like English. Put simply:
Genitive prepositions are connected to Genitive Case nouns, which is similar to the English possessive,
Dative prepositions are connected to Dative Case nouns, which are function like English indirect objects.
Accusative prepositions are connected to Accusative Case nouns, which function like direct objects in English.
The case is determined in Greek, by the context of the noun to which the preposition is connected. For example, if “meta” is connected to a Genitive noun, it will be translated as “with.”
The preositions with one case, however, will usually only appear in the presence of the particular case with which they are associated. For example, in order for “ana” to be present, there must be an Accusative noun present in the verse in question. No Accusative noun, no Accusative preposition. The good thing about this is, if you see one of these one-case prepositions, that means you will run across a noun in that case, and it usually is the next word.
One other thing, just because you do not have an Accusative/Genitive/Dative preposition, does not mean there will be no Accusative/Genitive/Dative preposition. Accusative nouns to not need prepositions to exist. Only prepositional phrases do.
Prepositional phrases are those phrases that contain both a preposition (a word that describes position) and it’s object. “Under the bridge” is a prepositional phrase, with “under” functioning as the preposition and “bridge” functioning as it’s object.
Anyway, enough babbling, and onto the list.
Prepositions with one case
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ana
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accusative: up, upwards
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anti
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instead of
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apo
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genitive: from, away from
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| achree, achrees |
genitive: as far as, until
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eis
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accusative: to, into
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| ek, eks |
genitive: from, out of
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emprowsthen
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genitive: before (place)
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enowpion
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genitive: before (place)
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en
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dative: in, with
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eksow
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genitive: outside, out of
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eows
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genitive: until, as far as
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opeesow
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genitive: behind
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pro
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genitive: before
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| pros |
accusative: to, towards, with
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soon
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dative: with
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chowrees
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genitive: apart from
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Prepositions
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with two cases
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deea
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genitive: through
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accusative: on account of
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| kata |
genitive: down from, against
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accusative: according to, throughout, during
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meta
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genitive: with
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accusative: after
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peree
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genitive: concerning, about
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accusative: around
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huper
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genitive: on behalf of, for
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accusative: above
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hupo
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genitive: by
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accusative: under
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Prepositions
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with three cases
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para
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accusative: alongside, beside
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genitive: from beside
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dative: (resting) beside
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epee
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genitive, accusative, dative: on, upon
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If you have any thoughts on the following, please, I enjoy this subject, grammar and language, intensely. Drop a line and we will chat. Or just ask the students at Dayspring Christian School how much I enjoy this material.