PREPOSITION

Prepositions and postpositions, together called adpositions (or broadly, in English, simply prepositions), are a class of words used to express spatial or temporal relations (in, under, towards, before) or mark various semantic roles (of, for).

A preposition or postposition typically combines with a noun phrase, this being called its complement, or sometimes object. A preposition comes before its complement; a postposition comes after its complement. English generally has prepositions rather than postpositions – words such as in, under and of precede their objects, such as in England, under the table, of Jane – although there are a few exceptions including “ago” and “notwithstanding”, as in “three days ago” and “financial limitations notwithstanding”. Some languages that use a different word order have postpositions instead, or have both types. The phrase formed by a preposition or postposition together with its complement is called a prepositional phrase (or postpositional phrase, adpositional phrase, etc.) – such phrases usually play an adverbial role in a sentence.

A less common type of adposition is the circumposition, which consists of two parts that appear on each side of the complement. Other terms sometimes used for particular types of adposition include ambiposition, inposition and interposition. Some linguists use the word preposition in place of adposition regardless of the applicable word order.

The word preposition comes from Latin: prae- prefix (pre- prefix) (“before”) and Latin: ponere (“to put”). This refers to the situation in Latin and Greek (and in English), where such words are placed before their complement (except sometimes in Ancient Greek), and are hence “pre-positioned”.

In some languages, including Sindhi, Urdu, Turkish, Hindi, Korean, and Japanese, the same kinds of words typically come after their complement. To indicate this, they are called postpositions (using the prefix post-, from Latin post meaning “behind, after”). There are also some cases where the function is performed by two parts coming before and after the complement; this is called a circumposition (from Latin circum- prefix “around”).

English prepositions (also known as adpositions)are words – such as of, in, on, at, from, etc. – that belong to a closed lexical category in English.They function as the head of a prepositional phrase, and most characteristically license a noun phrase object (e.g., in the water). Semantically, they most typically denote relations in space and time. Morphologically, they are usually simple and do not inflect.

Many of the most common of these are grammaticalized and correspond to case markings in languages such as Latin. For example, of typically corresponds to the genitive.

For prepositions in other languages:

• Sanskrit Prepositions
• Russian Prepositions
• German Prepositions
• Hindi Prepositions
• Greek Prepositions
• Latin Prepositions

Prepositions are such Particles, whose proper office it is to joyn Inte∣gral with Integral on the same side of the Copula; signifying some re∣spect of Cause, Place, Time, or other circumstance either Positively or Privatively. These having such a subserviency to Nouns, in re∣spect of which, they are by some stiled Adnomia, or Adnomina and Praenomina, as Adverbs have to Verbs. They are therefore here trea∣ted of before Adverbs, whose office is chiefly to wait upon Verbs.

There are thirty six Prepositions or eighteen paires of them, or six Combinations, which may, with much less equivocalness then is found in instituted Languages, suffice to express those various respects, which are to be signifyed by the kind of Particle.

The two first Combinations of Prepositions, do comprehend such as are used to express Causality, and may be stiled Causal.*

• self arrows , The first Combination of Causal Prepositions are either,
  • I. More General, denoting either the Author, Subject, or Possessor of any thing; expressed in the Latin by the Genitive case: or the Formal, or Instrumental cause, or Manner of doing, ex∣pressed in the Latin by th e Ablative case: Neither of them having any Particle in that Language appointed for them.
    • OF , AL , AC , EAL ,
    • WITH, By , CO , COM , SYN
  • More Particular; denoting either
    • The Efficient, or the Final cause.
      • BY
      • FOR
    • The Material cause, ex qua, or circa quam.
      • OVT OF
      • CONCERNING, upon.
  • II. The second Combination of Causal Prepositions doth contain such as do relate either to the notion of
    • Ideal and exemplary, or Substitutive
      • ACCORDING TO
      • INSTEAD , IN PLACE OF
    • Social or circumstance of society; Affirmed, or Denyed.
      • WITH
      • WITHOVT, void of
    • Adjuvant
      • FOR, on this side.
      • AGAINST, opposite unto.

The rest of the Prepositions do primarily refer to Place and Situa∣tion; Secondarily to time; And some of them, by way of Analogy, to Comparison. Some of these are Absolutely determined, either to Motion, or to Rest, or the Terminus of motion. Others are relatively applicable to both; Concerning which this rule is to be observed. That those which belong to motion, cannot signifie rest: But those which belong to rest, may likewise signifie motion in the Terminus.

• spatial arrows
  • III. The third Combination doth consist of such as respect space in ge∣neral being either Absolutely determined to
    • Motion; either ‖ of Coming, or Going
      • TO , AD
      • FROM , AWAY , AB
    • Rest; or the Terms of this motions, denoting either; Near∣ness and contiguity: ro Distance
      • AT
      • OFF
    • Terminal Motion ;
      • TILL
      • UNTIL
    • Relative both to motion and rest, with respect to the Interme∣diate space betwixt those Terms, either ‖ * Direct, or Indirect.
      • OVER
      • ABOVT
  • IV. The fourth Combination doth consist of such Prepositions, as re∣spect Space, with a particular restriction to the notion of Containing, being either.
    • Absolutely determined to
      • Motion; whether of ‖ Ingress, or Egress
        • INTO
        • OVT OF , EXO , ECTO
      • Rest or the Terms of these Motions.
        • WITHIN , INTRA , ENDO
        • WITHOVT , EXTRA ,
    • Relative both to Motion and Rest, with respect to the Interme∣diate space either ‖ Direct or Indirect.
      • THOROVGH , TRANS
      • BESIDE , PARA
• location semantograms
  • V. The fifth Combination doth contain such Prepositions as relate to the Imaginary parts of a thing, whether the
    • Head or Feet, being absolutely determined to
      • Motion; either ‖ Ascent or Descent,
        • VPWARDS
        • DOWNWARDS
      • Rest or the Terms of these motions,
        • ABOVE , SUPRA
        • BELOW , INFRA
    • Face or Back, being Relative both to Motion and Rest.
      • BEFORE , PRE , ANTE , PRO
      • AFTER , POST
  • VI. The sixth Combination doth comprehend such Prepositions as are applicable both to Motion and Rest, relating to the situation of some third thing spoken of, which the Speaker considers as being
    • Higher or Lower then that third thing, denoting a contiguity or nearness to it
      • VPON , EPI
      • VNDER ,
    • Nearer to it, or Farther from it
      • ON THIS SIDE , CIS , IPSI
      • BEYOND , ACROSS , OPPOSITE SIDE , CONTRA
    • In the intermediate space unto two other things, or opposite to one of them.
      • BETWIXT,*between , MESO , MID
      • AGAINST, over against , ANTI

Given that English prepositions hardly ever inflect, discussion of their morphology is generally limited to word formation. English prepositions are formed through both derivation and compounding, and some carry inflectional morphology associated with other parts of speech.

Most prepositions are simple bases consisting of a single morpheme, like in, from, and under. Historically, however, English prepositions have been formed from the prefixes a- and be-.This a- prefix originally contributed the meaning “on” or “onto” but is no longer productive; that is, it is no longer used to form new words. The preposition aboard, for example, can be paraphrased as “on board of”. The be- prefix originally meant “about” but, in prepositions, came to mean something closer to “at” or “near”. For example, one sense of the preposition before means “at or near the front”. Though the be- prefix is still productive in forming words of certain parts of speech, it is no longer used to form new prepositions.

Some morphological bases of prepositions remain productive. For example, -wards, which occurs in prepositions such as afterwards and towards, can attach to other morphemes to form new prepositions such as sun in we looked sunwards.

Despite lacking an inflectional system of their own, English prepositions occasionally carry inflectional morphemes associated with other parts of speech, namely verbs and adjectives. For example, some English prepositions derive from non-finite verb forms and still carry the associated inflectional affixes. The prepositions barring and concerning, for example, contain the -ing suffix of present participle verb forms. Similarly, the prepositions given and granted contain, respectively, the -en and -ed suffixes of past participle verb forms.

The prepositions near and far are unusual in that they seem to inflect for comparison, a feature typically limited to adjectives in English.

A compound preposition is a single word composed of more than one base. Often, the bases of compound prepositions are both prepositions. Compound prepositions of this kind include into, onto, throughout, upon, within, and without. Compound prepositions have also been formed from prepositions and nouns. Compound prepositions of this kind include some transitive prepositions, such as alongside, inside, and outside, but they are typically intransitive, such as downhill, downstage, downstairs, and downstream

• Single Word / Simple Prepositions
• Double Prepositions
• Compound Prepositions
• Phrase Prepositions

in , on, out, down, across, at, since, amid, during, through, under, along, around, plus, minus, via, than, until

From out, Out of, from among, outside of, from above, up to, next to, according to, because of, as about, as above, as after, up against, at about, at around, before considering, as inside, as outside, over to, over from, off on, off to

Inside, outside, except, unlike, concerning, considering, barring, following, pending, including, near,

According to, in place of, in front of, in search of, in quest of, in accordance with, in keeping with, on behalf of, in spite of , in regard to, instead of, owing to, with a view to, with regard to

Preposition	ETYMOLOGY	Mantrakshar
aboard	from a- (“on”) + bord (“board, side of a ship”).
about	from be (“by”) +‎ ūtan (“outside”)
above	from a (“on”) + bufan (“over”)
across	an (“in, on”) + croiz (“in the form of a cross”);
after	Low German/Dutch achter (“behind”),
against	surface analysis again+ st ( again - agen - to age)
along	from prefix and- + lang (“long”)
amid	a- +‎ mid. Latin medius (“middle”, noun and adjective)
among	equivalent to a- +‎ mong (“crowd; group; throng”).
around	from a- (from Old English a- (“on, at”)) + Middle English round (“circle, round”)
as	from Old English eallswā (“just so; as”), thus representing a reduced form of also.
at	from Old English æt (“at, near, by, toward”)
before	from be- + foran (“before”), from fore,
behind	equivalent to be- +‎ hind
below	equivalent to be- +‎ low.
beneath	equivalent to be- +‎ neath ( sanskrit - neeche )
beside	equivalent to be- +‎ side
between	*bi- (“be-”) + *twīhnaz (“two each”)
beyond	from be- +‎ ġeond;
but	equivalent to be- +‎ out.
by	from Proto-Germanic *bi (“near; by; around; about”)
concerning	combined form of con- + cernō (“distinguish”).
considering	From con- + sīder-, a radical perhaps related to sīdus (“star; constellation”)
despite	From dē- +‎ speciō.
down	from ofdūne (“off the hill”).
during	present participle of duren (“to last”), equivalent to dure +‎ -ing
except	From ex- +‎ capiō.
following	from Old English folgian (“to follow, pursue”),
for	Latin per (“by, through, for, by means of”)
from	from Old English from, fram (“forward, from”)
in	in
inside	analysable as in + side
into	in + to
like
minus	From Latin minus, neuter form of minor,
near
next	inflected forms of nīehst (“nearest, next”),
of	an unstressed form of af, æf (“from, off, away”)
off
on	Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “up, upon”),
onto	on + to
opposite	From ob- +‎ pōnō (“put”).
out	and Old English ūte (“outside; without”, adverb)
outside	out + side
over	Latin super, Ancient Greek ὑπέρ (hupér)
past	past participle of passen (“to pass, to go by”)
per	From Latin per (“through, during”),
plus	Borrowed from Latin plus (“more”).
regarding
round	from Latin rotundus
save	from Late Latin salvāre (“to save”).
since	German seit (“since”)
than
through	Latin trans (“across, over, through”), - possibly ( throw + out )
till
to
toward	to + ward Latin vertere (“to turn”) or versus (“toward”),
under	Latin infrā (“below, beneath”)
underneath	Latin infrā (“below, beneath”) + neathe
unlike	un + like
until	un + till
up	up
upon	up + on
versus	Latin vertere (“to turn”) or versus (“toward”),
via	Borrowed from Latin via (“road”
with	possibly from mid - replacing m with w
within	with + in
without	with + out