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preposition, n.|prɛpəˈzɪʃən|
[ad. L. præpositiōn-em a putting before, a preposition, n. of action f. præpōnĕre to put before: see pre- and position. So F. préposition (preposicion, 15th c. in Godef.).
L. præpositio rendered Gr. πρόθεσις, both terms having the wider sense, 2 below; thus, such particles as εὐ- well, and in- not, were included among prepositions.]
1. Gram. One of the Parts of Speech: an indeclinable word or particle serving to mark the relation between two notional words, the latter of which is usually a substantive or pronoun; as, sow in hope, good for food, one for you, Stratford on Avon, late in time. The following n. or pron. is said to be ‘governed’ by the preposition, and in inflected languages stands in an oblique case. Originally, and still often, the term was applied also to the same words when combined as prefixes with verbs or other words, and to certain other particles of similar force which are used only in combination (inseparable prepositions).
postpositive preposition (= postposition 3), a word or particle, having the same function as a preposition, which follows its n., as ‘he goes homewards’; L. ‘domum versus’, Ger. ‘meinetwegen’. In English, when the object is an interrogative or relative pronoun, the verb follows this pronoun, and the preposition, instead of preceding the pronoun, often follows the verb, as Whom did you go with? the town that he lives in, the place (that) he came from. With the relative that no other construction is possible.
[c1000ælfric Gram. xlvii. (Z.) 267 Praepositio est pars orationis indeclinabilis. Praepositio mæᵹ beon ᵹecweden on englisc foresetnys, forðan ðe he stent æfre on foreweardan, swa hwær swa he byð, beo he ᵹefeᵹed to oðrum worde, ne beo he.] 1388Wyclif Prol. 60 Manie such aduerbis, coniuncciouns, and preposiciouns ben set ofte oon for another, and at fre chois of autouris sumtyme. 1530Palsgr. Introd. 40 They take awaye the preposytion and say, la robbe mon maistre. 1661Milton Accedence Wks. 1738 I. 620 A Preposition is a part of Speech most commonly, either set before Nouns in Apposition, as ad patrem, or join'd with any other words in Composition, as indoctus. 1672Dryden Def. Epilogue Ess. (Ker) I. 168 The preposition in the end of the sentence; a common fault with him. 1704J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., 'Tis called Præposition, because 'tis most frequently in the Latin Tongue placed before other Words; and then either separately, as Ad patrem; or conjunctively, as Admiror. 1843Proc. Philol. Soc. I. 66 The speaker made the prepositions do the work of the lost inflexions. 1845Stoddart Gram. in Encycl. Metrop. (1847) I. 124/1 These and other examples of a like kind induced some authors to make a class of postpositive prepositions;..there are languages in which all the prepositions, if we may so speak, are postpositive. a1854H. Reed Lect. Eng. Lit. iii. (1878) 102 The peculiarly characteristic arrangement, which puts a preposition at the end of a sentence, is eminently an English idiom. 1874I. Taylor Etruscan Res. vii. 247 Qualifying words, which in Aryan languages would appear as pre-positions or..are in the Ugric languages glued on as post-positions. 1875Leland Fusang x. 102 Those Asiatic languages have, moreover, no prepositions, but only postpositions. So likewise, has the Dakota tongue.
†2. More widely: Any word or particle prefixed to another word; a prefix. Obs.
1565Kyng Daryus (Brandl) 838 That Preposition In is a pestilent fellow For it is that which maketh this variance betwene mee and you: My name is called Iniquitee, And thy name is called mayster Equytie. a1653Gouge Comm. Heb. xi. 5 The preposition (εὐ), with which the verb (εὐηρεστηκέναι) is compounded, signifieth ‘well’. 1661[see 1].
3. a. The action of placing before; the fact of being so placed; position before or in front.
Now usu. hyphened in this sense.
1586Webbe Eng. Poetrie (Arb.) 71, I am constrayned to straine curtesy with the preposition of a worde compounded or such like, which breaketh no great square. 1656Blount Glossogr., Preposition, a putting or setting before. 1885Amer. Jrnl. Philol. Oct. 346 Contrasting the English preposition with the French postposition of the adjective. 1901M. Calloway in Publ. Mod. Lang. Assoc. Amer. XVI. 153 In Anglo-Saxon the appositive participle regularly follows its principal (post-position), though occasionally it precedes (pre-position). 1930T. Sasaki On Lang. R. Bridges' Poetry 26 In French, where postposition, and not pre-position, of the adj. attrib. is the general rule. 1946O. Jespersen Mod. Eng. Gram. V. xxi. 392 Historically, however, for was a subordinating conjunction, as shown (1) by the possibility of pre-position. 1961Moderna Språk LV. 243 Another theory advanced by Jespersen is that some words cannot be freely used in pre-position because their signification demands a complement; thus ashamed (of something, to do something). 1963F. T. Visser Hist. Syntax Eng. Lang. I. i. 19 The extreme scarcity, however, of examples, in Old English with pre-position of the clause..renders the correctness of this interpretation doubtful.
†b. Something placed before. Obs.
1635Wither Emblemes (ad. init.), A preposition to this Frontispiece. 1811Busby Dict. Mus. s.v. Sharp, A character, the power of which is to raise the note before which it is placed half a tone higher than it would be without such a preposition.
†4. A setting forth; a proposition or exposition. Obs. [Due to early confusion of pre- and pro.]
1494Fabyan Chron. v. cxxxii. 116 Dagobert..made a longe preposicion & oracion concernynge y⊇ allegiaunce which he exortyd his lordes to owe & bere to hym. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cxcvi. [cxcii.] 605 This preposycion that the vnyuersite hadde made before the kynge, pleased right well the kynge. 1568Grafton Chron. II. 390 The said Sir Iohn Bushe in all his prepositions to the king, did not onely attribute to him worldly honours, but diuyne names.
5. pl. Premises: see premise n. 1.
1646Fuller Wounded Consc. iii. 19 Gods children by better logick, from the prepositions of Gods former preservations, inferre his power. |