ἀπό : from (a
b).—I. adv. (here belong all examples of the so-called use
‘in tmesi’), off, away;
ἡμῖν ἀπὸ λοιγὸν ἀμῦναι,
Il. 1.67; ἀπὸ
δὲ χλαῖναν βάλε, Il.
2.183, etc.; a subst. in the gen. (of separation) is often
added to render more specific the relation of the adv., ἀπ᾽ ἰ̈χῶ χειρὸς ὀμόργνυ_,
Il. 5.416;
πολλόν γὰρ ἀπὸ πλυνοί εἰσι πόληος, Od. 6.40; thus preparing the way for the
strict prepositional usage.—II. prep., w. gen., from,
away from, denoting origin, starting-point, separation
(distance); οὐ γὰρ ἀπὸ δρυός ἐσσι
παλαιφάτου, οὐδ᾽ άπὸ πέτρης, ‘sprung
from’ tree or rock, Od.
19.163
; ἀφ᾽ ἵππων ἆλτο χαμᾶζε,
‘from his car,’ Il.
16.733; so freq. ἀφ᾽ ἵππων, ἀπὸ
νεῶν μάχεσθαι, where we say ‘on’;
οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ οὐδ᾽ ἀπὸ δόξης
| μυ_θεῖται βασίλεια,
‘wide of,’ i. e. she hits the mark and meets our
views, Od. 11.344
; μένων ἀπὸ ἧς ἀλόχοιο,
‘away from’ his wife, Il.
2.292; so ἀπ᾽ οὔατος, ἀπ̓
ὀφθαλμῶν; adverbial phrase, ἀπὸ
σπουδης, ‘in earnest,’ Il. 12.237. The
‘temporal’ meaning commonly ascribed to ἀπὸ in Il.
8.54 is only implied, not expressed by the
preposition.