Re: Contra (was: Offensive stress (was: those irregular prepositions)

>Roger Mills <rfmilly@...> wrote:
>"Contra" looks to me like one of those Lat. prepositions derived from
>(old) adjective(?) roots:-- super-/supra, inter-/intra, exter-/extra
>etc., except there are no comparative/superlative forms from *conter-
> (or are there? conterior, contremus???-- contrarius, yes)
I should have checked on this before writing my previous message.
According to the "Cassells' New Latin Dictionary": "contra (from cum,
as extra from ex).

And then: extra (perhaps abl. f. sing. of exterus).

And then: exter, exterus (from ex).

It seem to be, rather, a preposition from an adjective from a
preposition, with _contra_ eliminating the adjectival stage.

Charlie