Its use however does not extend much beyond those instances.
A very common and elegant use of runga is, when it is employed in the sense of amongst, on, or with, to denote concomitancy, &c., &c.; as in the following examples:
- I hokona e koe i runga i te he, you purchased it on a bad title.
- Kei runga tenei i to mahi, we are now on the work; i. e., are busily engaged at work.
- E karakia ana i runga i te he, he worships on sin; i. e. while he worships God he practices sin.
The preceding examples suggest a good approximation to a form of expression which, we confess, we have been unable to find under the preposition ki; i. e. with noting concomitancy, (vid. ki (1)), as in the following examples: "Pray with faith;" "love God with your whole heart." In these sentences we should have no hesitation in using runga.
A very common form of, we believe, Maori origin, is,
- Kia haere atu te inoi i runga i a te Karaiti, let the prayer go forth upon Christ.
The other compound prepositions may often be rendered very useful by giving them, as in the above, a figurative acceptation according with the nature of the subject. One or two examples will suffice.
Tua is thus employed:
- He tau ki tua, a year is on the other side; this day year, what a long time (you intend to be absent)!
- He mate kei tua, misfortune is on the other side, i. e. awaits you.
- Kei tua o te ra tapu nei, next week.
The student should carefully remember that muri and mua do not exactly correspond with behind and before in English, and that tua is very frequently employed to denote those words.