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Antonio L. MezzacappaGherardini, in whose mind Italian a always stood for Latin ad, failing torecognize a una, a due, a tre as expressionsof manner, thought to elucidatethe passage thus: In questo es. la particella a serve ... a far compren-dere il passare o il salire via via da un numero ad un altro, incominciandodal zero all'uno, e quindi al due, e va' discorrendo. '3Later on he chided La Crusca for quoting a sentence from Boccaccio:Stamane, anzi che io qui venissi, io trovai con la donna mia in casa unafemmina a stretto consiglio, to show that a could at one and the sametime correspond to Latin ad or in. And yet in his own paraphrase:trovai con la mia donna una femmina, occupata o intenta l'una a daree l'altra a prendere stretto consiglio, l4 he not only misconstrued ther6le of a but gave an erroneous connotation to consiglio, which heremeans not advice but conference or conversation.In discussing the ablative of means, which in Italian is often introducedby a instead of con, even Gherardini lost confidence in the thesis that acomes only from ad. After quoting from Dante (Inf. ix, 49-51):

Conl'unghiesi fendeaciascuna l petto;battiensia palme;e gridavan i alto,ch'i'mi strinsial poeta persospetto.and paraphrasing battiensi a palme by si batteano ricorrendo o ap-pigliandosi a le palme, he realized that such an explanation is inadmissi-ble. He confessed his bewilderment as follows:Ben mi rincresceche forsequestivocaboli ricorrendo appigliandosinon sonoquibeneapplicati;ma sia colpadel miointelletto,o pure nsufficienza el nostroidioma, o da menonveggo paroledapotermeglio piegare l mio intendimento:assai tuttaviasaraper me, se il lettoremi avracompreso.15

Such confusion in the understanding of the syntactical nature of thepreposition a is still universal among commentators of the older Italiantexts, and has given rise to rather rash statements on the part of Italianstylists and grammarians. Enrico Sicardi, for instance, accuses Dante ofdenaturing prepositions:o scorciaviolentemente e preposizioni,i da farleparerealtre,comeInf. I, 42:Di quellafera allagaietta pelle per dallagaiettapelle, o in Purg. vIII,106:Sentendo ender 'aerealle verdiali per dalleverdiali. '6His opinion that in these and other verses Dante used a instead of dabecause of an aversion to dentals is not convincing, certainly not forInf. I, 42. A careful analysis of all such passages will reveal that the poetemployed a in lieu of da for metrical reasons, since the formerprepositioncould combine with a preceding or a following vowel, or even with both,

13G. Gherardini,p. cit., I, 37. 14Ibid., p. 18. 15 Ibid., pp. 47-48.16E. Sicardi,Lingua taliana n Dante(Roma:Optima,1928),pp. 53 and 63.

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Antonio L. Mezzacappaof whether they are considered from the point of view of space, of time,or of the mind, are expressed by verbs or verbal adjectives alone. How-ever, if their application is particularized by nouns or pronouns, caseendings or prepositions must be resorted to, in order to show the exactrelationship between the verbs or verbal adjectives and the nouns orpronouns. Thus, in the sentence, Antonio va a Roma, va denotes mo-tion in space, Roma limits the application of the notion of the verb, andthe relationship between the two is specified by the preposition a. Simi-larly, in Antonio parte da Napoli, the relationship is expressed by da.In the first case Roma denotes the end of spatial motion, while in thesecond Napoli denotes the beginning. In Antonio va da Napoli aRoma, the distance is delimited exactly both as to its beginning andits end. The same prepositions serve for similar functions in expressionsof time, as in Dalla nascita alla morte amo sempre Iddio and in Dalleotto alle dieci studia l'italiano. Finally, in Fu indotto da gratitudinead amare il padre, da and ad determine respectively the cause and theresult of mental or emotional activity. Between the concepts of beginning,expressed by da, and of ending, expressed by a, are those of fixity, sta-bility, and impartiality, generally and most logically specified in Italianby in or a. For example, in Antonio e nella sala da pranzo, in denotesa fixed locality, with absolutely no indication of motion, and, in An-tonio e arrivato alle due, a determines the moment of arrival, withoutspecifying the beginning, the end, or the duration of the moment. Aword or phrase which qualifiesa verb or verbal adjective, whether of restor of motion is, to be regarded as one of neutrality, since from the pointof view of the verb it qualifies, it contains no idea of change or motionwhatsoever. Thus, in Parti da Firenze con venti fiorini addosso, inrelation to the subject of the verb the venti fiorini do not change posi-tion; and, in I1ragazzo agi da vero soldato, the phrase introduced byda describes the verbal action, but, in relation to it, undergoes no trans-formation.These notions, as well as others which will be discussed in the courseof this article, may be divided into three general categories, representedin the diagram by the three circles A, B, and C. The first category, with

A B CSource Stability EndSeparation Association j unction

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Antonio L. Mezzacappathe case system, the use of ad in the place of the dative was greatlyextended.27

As long as the two prepositions ab and ad could be distinguished fromeach other, their particular spheres were clearly differentiated. However,as Richter pointed out, before words beginning with consonants, theywere both reduced to a, which, regardlessof its source, became ad beforewords beginning with vowels, by analogy with ed, od, qued, and ad it-self.28Complete confusion resulted when this ad, representing both aband ad, was finally employed also in front of words starting with con-sonants. Consequently this a or ad could serve and did serve for all thevaried and contradictory notions symbolized by our three circles, therebybecoming a preposition without any distinctive prepositional force what-soever. It was due to this confusion that other particles were resorted to,in order to indicate the original functions of ab as distinct from those ofad. Italians not only had available de, which from the very beginningwas practically interchangeable with ab, and extended the use of cumfrom the idea of accompaniment to that of means, manner, and specifica-tion, but created a new preposition by a fusion of de and ab, resultingin the modern da.29The emergence of da (dea and dead are also found) in Italy in theeighth century is of great importance, since eventually it took over nearlyall the functions of ab.a0However, this does not mean, as Richter wouldhave us believe, that a as a descendant of ab fell completely out of use.31On the contrary, it was employed extensively in Italian up to the end ofthe Renaissance, and is quite common in modern Italian. One may recog-nize an abof source or separation in pigliar gusto al racconto, chiederealla donna, and sottrarsi a un pericolo ; an ab of possession in met-tere in bocca al cane, and lo vidi in cima a un gelso ; and an ab ofaccompaniment in Manzoni's phrase a croce alzata, corresponding tothe Latin ablative absolute. Finally, we have an ab introducing an abla-tive of manner in expressions such as risotto alla milanese, scottarea buono, intendere a sordo, andare a piedi and farealla peggio.I do not think it is any longer necessary to accept the old theory thatthe Italian a (or ad) introducing manner means attendance, separation,and agent, is a borrowing from French or Provengal. No one will denythat the early Italian writers knew both these languages and that not afew French and Proven?al wordsand phrases made their way into Italian.However, it must not be forgotten that the basis of Italian is Latin, and

27 Grandgent,An Introductiono VulgarLatin(Heath,1907),p. 44.28 Richter, op. cit., pp. 25-26. 29 Muller, op. cit., p. 65.30 Richter, op. cit., p. 44. 31 bid., p. 54.

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Antonio L. Mezzacappa129); sta sepolto alli occhi di ciascuno (Par., vii, 59); lo sol talvolta ad ogni uomsi nasconde (Par., xiI, 51); per cedere al pastor (Par., xx, 57); a noi profondo(Par., xxx, 4); al mio veder si stinse (Par., xxx, 13); che '1parlar nostro, ch'atal vista cede, e cede la memoria a tanto oltraggio (Par., xxxiII, 56-57).

3. Latin could also use ab to express the idea of separating one objectfrom another: a pectore vestem diripuit (Ov. Met. 9. 635);35 qui a patriapulsus (Dante, Epist., II. 1); mihi a limine . . . separato (Dante, Epist.,III. 2); and for the corresponding Italian function Dante employed itsdescendant a:Caina attende chi a vita ci spense (Inf., v, 197); a cui non puo il fin mai essermozzo (Inf., ix, 95); non tegno riposto a te mio cuor (Inf., x, 20); onde a guardarle stelle... non li era la veduta tronca (Inf., xx, 50); non m'e il seguir al miocantar preciso (Par., xxx, 30).

4. The object or person from which a thing is removed or taken awaywas likewise often indicated by ab: traxit ab aequore piscem (Sil. 5. 52);ab humo . .. attollit amicum (Virg. Aen. 5. 452);36 removet ab hac cau-salitate aerem et ignem (Dante, A.T. xx). Such a construction occursquite frequently in the Divine Comedy:che la gran preda levo a Dite (Inf., xII, 39); munge le lagrime ... a Rinier daCorneto, a Rinier Pazzo (Inf., 137); torrien fede al mio sermone (Inf., xIII, 21);tolsero a Mattia (Inf., xix, 94); poder... a tutti tolle (Inf., xxIII, 57); a cuitanto distilla (Inf., xxIII, 97); torre tali esecutori a Marte (Inf., xxxI, 51); a tecom'e tanta ora tolta? (Purg., II, 93); sciolse al mio petto la croce (Purg., v, 126);ha tolto l'uno all' altro Guido (Purg., xI, 97); al sangue mio non tolse la vergogna(Purg., xx, 62); notte ne sonno a voi non fura (Purg., xxx, 104); si tolse a me(Purg., xxx, 126); a piu alto leon trasser lo vello (Par., vi, 108); traendo allarocca la chioma (Par., xv, 124).

5. Ab was commonly used in Latin to mark the point from which anobject stands removed, particularly with longe, procul, prope, and alienus:a gelido longius axe foret (Ov. Pont. 4. 14. 62) ;37Longe namque ab officiose esse non dubitet (Dante, Mon. I. i); distantem a centro mundi(Dante, A.T. xiv). Dante's epic has at least two such examples:non molto lungi al percuoter dell'onde (Par., xiI, 49); non molto distanti alla tuapatria (Par., xxI, 107).

6. Intimately connected with the idea of distance and separation isthat of divergence, which in Latin was expressed by ab as well as by deand ex: qui a te totus diversus est (Cic. Acad. I. II. 32) ;38quos a nobis

35Ibid.,pp. 18 and 47. 36 Ibid.,pp. 22, 26, and 52. 37Ibid.,p. 42.38D. Pesavento,Manualedi un metodo omparativoer apprendereacilmentee solida-mente ome i suolenelle inguevive a logica truttura elledue ingue talianae latinaad untempo Padova:Tipografia el Seminario, 867),p. 214.

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Antonio L. Mezzacappaporary possession, and the genitive was eventually supplanted by theablative with de.41As ab was practically interchangeable with de, it isquite likely that it, too, took on this function, aided perhaps in this ex-tension by its indication of source and distant origin. From the phrase:philosophiam ... a Socrate ortam (Cic. Ac. 1. 1. 3),42n which a denotedsource, it was easy to pass to the phrase: philosophia a Socrate, in whicha simply indicated possession. Likewise Virgil's expression: genus aPallante profectam (Aen. 8. 51), was reduced to genus a Pallante, usu-ally rendered in English by Pallas' offspring. Again Dante's ius aDeo (Mon. II. ii) and insultus a filio (V.E. I. vii) could be translatedinto English by God's justice and a son's insult without doing toomuch violence to a's fundamental connotation of source. In early Italianthe use of a to denote possession was nearly as common as that of di.That the a employed in this sense could well be a descendant of ad takingthe role of the dative of interest or temporary possession does not pre-clude necessarily the possibility of its being a representative of ab. Hereare a few of the many examples in the Divina commedia:le lanosegoteal nocchierdella ividapalude(Inf., III, 98);nelpettoal miosignor(Inf., vin, 116);dal colloa ciascunpendeauna tasca (Inf., xvII, 55); a cui diboccauscia(Inf., xxII, 55);si rose a tempiea Menalippo Inf., xxxII, 131);etc.10. Latin employed ab to denote the beginning of a period of time: abhora octava ad vesperum (Cic. ATT. 7. 8. 17); ab initio; a pueritia;43aprincipio dicebatur (Dante, Mon. I. vii); a lapsu primorum parentum(Dante, Mon. I. xviii). However, this use of a


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Antonio L. Mezzacappa1. Although means was usually expressed in Latin by the ablativealone, examples are found in which it is introduced by de and, in popularspeech, by ab: (piscis) teneatur ab hamo (Ov. Ars. 1. 763); circineturilluda forfice (Italian handbook of chemistry eighth cent. Muratori ed. 1778,T. 4, Diss. 24, 687) ;45vix ab inutili unda Oceani se circumcingi dignatur(Dante, Epist., VII. 3); ostensa sint nobis haec ab humana ratione...haec a Spiritu Sancto (Dante, Mon. II. xvi). In the Divina commediaaintroducing means or instrument occurs frequently:ombremostrommi.. a dito (Inf., v, 68);a che e come concedetteamore(Inf.,v, 119);battiensia palme (Inf., ix, 50);non temesti torrea 'nganno(Inf., xix,56);levarperl'aerea volo (Inf., xxix, 113);Io volsiUlisse delsuocamminvagoal canto mio (Purg.,xix, 23); e fatti far credenza .. al lembode' tuoi panni

(Purg., xxvzI, 30); ch'e vinto al pome (Purg., xxvII, 45); al sembiante . . . lo favedere(Par.xx, 65); a piiuangustovaglioti convieneschiarar Par.,xxvi, 22);a cosi lungascala ti dispose (Par.,xxvi, 111);a proprionomevo perla rosagiudifoglia nfoglia (Par., xxxii, 14);a chesipartone sacrescalee(Par.,xxxi, 21).2. In Latin the ablative of manner was used with cum when it had no

adjective, and with or without cum when accompanied by an adjectiveor its equivalent. This function of cum> con has remained very active inItalian. And yet many expressions of manner are introduced by a.Phonologically, of course, a could have evolved from either ad or ab, but,since ad in Latin was employed only with the accusative and did notindicate any of the notions requiring the ablative, its only likely sourceis ab. Moreover, in the declensions of Donatus, the sixth case is alwaysdenoted by the ablative preceded by ab. Ab probably spread to mannerfrom means and instrument. Undoubtedly its extension to this role wasaided also by its use to give the point of view from which a thing is re-garded. The phrase: mediocriter a doctrina instructus, which could wellbe considered as an expression of means or even specification, is quotedby Richter as an expressionof manner.46A few examples in which manneris indicated by ab instead of the more bookish cum follow:nosdeus osculatur b oculis(Paul.Nol.Epist.13.19);abunamanupallasaltaristenerem(Greg.Tur.in Urbat'sBeitr.p. 27); et tene illudcumtenaleaferreaetdistende et a forfice recide (Italian handbook of chemistry,loc. cit.);47 serapoenitentiahoc a modoveniregenitivanon erit (Dante, Epist.,vi. 6); et ab invicemsegregavi Dante, Epist.,x. 3).It is not always easy to decide as to whether such phrases are of manneror means, and the same difficulty arises in the analysis of many passagesin the Divine Comedy. The following, however, seem to me to denotemanner:

45Guillemin, op. cit., p. 61; Muller, op. cit., p. 58.46Richter, op. cit., p. 44. 47Muller, op. cit., p. 58.

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Antonio L. Mezzacappa(Dante, Mon. III. i). This use of ab with the ablative of specification wasextended considerably so that it could even precede the infinitive, whichtook on the function of the supine in -tu: mirabile dictu (Virg. Georg.2.30).49 In the Divine Comedy the preposition a denoting specificationoccurs very frequently before both nouns and infinitives:a dir di Sardigna.. si sentonostanche(Inf., xxII, 89); a cio fare erapiuicrudo(Inf., xxII, 120); alle sue vision quasi e divina (Purg., ix, 18); qual fora stataal fallodegnascusa(Purg.,x, 6); e al si e al no discordi ensi (Purg.,x, 63);e perlo fabbro oroa vedercare (Purg.,x, 99); al montarsu ... e parco (Purg.,xI,45); fu presuntiioso recar Siena(Purg., xi, 123); questae a udir si cosanova(Purg., xIIi, 145); a fuggir la mia vista fu ratta (Purg., xv, 24); a veder questecose non ti fia grave (Purg., xv, 31); liberoa mutar convento(Purg.,xxi, 62);contentea brieve esta(Purg.,xxvI, 33);disiosoancoraa piuietizie(Purg.,xxIx,33); a rispondera materiae sorda(Par., I, 129);non fui a rimembrarestino(Par.,III,61);ciomifecea dimandar iutardo(Par.,III, 130);a ciofar nonbieci,come Iepte alla sua primamancia (Par., v, 65-66); Siate ... a muovervipiugravi (Par., v, 73); e fortea veder (Par., vi, 102);a rilevarvisusofu contenta(Par., vii, 111); piuilargo fu Dio a dar se stesso per far l'uom sufficiente a rile-varsi (Par.,vII, 115-16); per esseral dover le genti crude (Par., ix, 48); bassea tanta altezza(Par.,x, 47); a considerar u piuiche viro (Par., x, 132);a con-versioneacerbatroppo a gente (Par., xi, 103);degno collegafu a mantener abarca (Par., xi, 119); sicurea giudicar (Par., xIII, 131); forti a tutto cio ...(Par., xiv, 60); subiti e accorti... a dicer Amme (Par., xiv, 62); a tacerfurconcorde? Par., xv, 9); contentiallapellescoperta,e le sue donneal fusoeal pennecchio Par., xv, 116-17);al serviziodi Dio mi fe' si fermo(Par., xxI,114); mirabilea veder (Par., xxII, 96); possente . . a sostenerlo riso(Par.,xxIII, 48); intero a contenerlo sarebbe arto (Par., xxvIII, 33); non sono a talmodo sufficienti(Par., xxvIII, 58); possonquantoa veder son sublimi(Par.,xxvIII, 102); modesti a riconoscer se (Par., xxix, 59); poco sarebbe a fornirquestavice (Par.,xxx, 18); sarapiu cortamia favella,pura quelch'ioricordo,che d'un fante (Par., xxxIII, 107).A may also limit the application of a verbal action:sodisfammia' miei disiri (Inf., x, 6); li sodisfecial suo dimando(Inf., x, 126);ho perdutoa veder (Purg., vii, 26); ch'i' erri anzi ad aprirch'a tenerlaserrata(Purg., x, 127-128);a nominar rascorsePar.,iv, 63);sodisfarviai voti manchi(Par., iv, 137);si carocosto a riarmar Par.,xII, 38); allarispostacosi mi pre-venne (Par., xxv, 51).

5. The quality of a noun was expressed in Latin by the genitive: virmagnae auctoritatis (Caes. B.G. v. 35. 6), but more often, especially whenthe quality was external, by the ablative without any preposition:Agesilaus statura fuit humili (Nep. xvII. 8. 1). With the disappearance ofthe declensional system, however, resort was had not only to de, but,

49Pesavento,p.cit.,pp.169 f. and455.

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The Preposition A daCarthagine, which ended by being purely qualifying expressions. Inmodern Italian these three prepositions are employed almost indis-criminately to indicate quality: bistecca ai ferri, pranzo di nozze, ilsignore dai baffi castagni, berretto da viaggio, etc. In Dante, however,the use of a in this sense is quite rare:quellaferaallagaettapelle (Inf., I, 42); l'alta torre alla cimarovente(Inf., Ix,36); la lonza allapelle dipinta (Inf., xvI, 108);e diede '1punto con CalcantenAulidea tagliar a primafune (Inf., xx, 111);lume ti fiero al come che tu die(Purg., xxv, 36).

In the foregoing pages I have tried to show that the Latin prepositionab, far from disappearingin Italy, remained very active in its descendanta. It is true, of course, that in modern Italian it has been replaced to agreat extent by di, da, con, and even in. Its use, however, was quitecommon up to the end of the Renaissance, and the present study could beapplied advantageously to other early classics. As for the Divine Comedy,I have indicated the various functions of a

the preposition a

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