> Of course, the particular usage of a preposition in a sentence does affect
> its meaning. However, a Greek preposition like EIS certainly does not have
> the wide range of usages that the English preposition FOR does. For example,
> while FOR might look backwards (cause) or forwards (aim, purpose), EIS always
> looks forwards (except when it doubles for EN describing literal location),
> not backwards..
I am not even a Greek novice. I simply don't know the language at all (I
know, I know, why am I subscribed to this list then?). But I want to
throw in that _English-Greek Dictionary - A vocabulary of the Attic
language_ points out that EIS denotes a fairly restrictive semantic of "for
the purpose of." As such, Greek EIS is hardly as flexible as our English
"for."
Brent Arias
University of New Mexico