Life can sometimes become trickier when these prepositions do not refer to something literal at which point, depending upon context, they can have a wide range of transferred meanings and you may need to do some digging in a dictionary to identify the precise one.
All this post will do is show some examples of they way in
which they can differ in meaning depending on context. In subsequent posts we
will look at some other common ones. I am only giving one or two alternative
meanings.
dē
[1] (down / away) from:
cecidisse ¦ dē equō ¦ dīcitur (Cicero) │ he is
said to have fallen (down) from his horse
Dē digitō ānulum dētrahō. │ I pull the ring
(away) from (my) finger.
That idea is still used in English every time you deice
the car!
[2] about in the sense of concerning e.g. I
read a book about history.
Q. Mūcius … multa nārrāre ¦ dē C. Laeliō socerō
suō ¦ … solēbat (Cicero) │ Quintus Mucius Scaevola … used to relate many
incidents about his father-in-law, Gaius Laelius
We see this use in the word describe.
prae
[1] before / in front of
prope Tiberim fluvium, quā ¦ prae sē ¦ armentum agēns
nandō trāiēcerat (Livy) │ close to the river Tiber, where he had swum across it
with the herd before him
prae- occurs in English derivatives as pre-
referring to something which is ‘before’ something else e.g. prehistoric,
preconditions, pre-nuptial agreement.
[2] [i] in comparison with; [ii] on account of
[i] prae eā urbe (Livy) │in comparison with
that city
[ii] ut ¦ prae laetitiā ¦ lacrimae prōsiliunt
mihi (Plautus) │ how my tears are
starting forth for very joy.
prō
[1] before / in front of
subsidia Camillus firmat validamque statiōnem ¦ prō
castrīs ¦ oppōnit (Livy)│ Camillus forms the reserve, and posts a strong guard before
the camp
[2] for; on behalf of: an easy one to remember since you’re
either in the pro-Trump / Macron / Starmer / Kim Jong Un camp – or, if
not, you’re in the anti-one!
Hoc nōn modo nōn ¦ prō mē, ¦ sed contrā mē est potius (Cicero) │ This is not only not for me, but even against me
