Proto-MSA

*lV- - against, on (Kogan 2015:562)

As duly recognized by both Leslau and Johnstone, the MSA prepositions are semantically equivalent to PS *ˁalay rather than to PWS *li. The etymological *ˁ persists in the Soqotri forms with pronominal suffixes such as ˁəy ‘on him.’ (Kogan 2015:562)

Mehri
l-/lə- - against, on (ML 249)
Jibbali
l- - for, against, on to (JL 158)
Soqotri
ḷe- - on, over, against (LS 227; CSOL I 598; CSOL II 522 – 523)

Terminative (‘to, towards’):

tóˀo hέmen tesóri ḷe-méḳṣeʰ édof ˁes bedíḷhɛḷ di-dénob wa-keḷéˀes di-ˀórem ‘When the other cow almost fell into the precipice, he caught it by the tip of its tail and brought it back onto the path’ (CSOL II 1:32);

Locative (‘at, near; in’):

ˁö́mor bass bíhid ˁánhi bass ezóˁom έhɛ ḥatóˀo ḷe-máˁẓ̂ad di-ḳáˁar wa-ˀaḷ-ˀóˁod idéš ‘He said: “All right, just let me spend the night there, near the doorpost, and I will not approach you”’ (CSOL II 1:141);

Temporal:

aḷ-ˁak šéken deʰ ḷe-ˁáṣar ‘I will be with you no more at this time tomorrow’ (CSOL II 6:17)

‘At, in the process of doing something (with a verbal noun)’:

ˁö́mor wa-ḷaṭ tšáḳam ḷe-ḥíṣoʰ ˁaf ˁamḳ di-ḥteʰ wa-ḷaṭ tédom ‘And he continued: “Then she stays awake until the middle of the night sewing, and only then does she go to sleep’ (CSOL II 15:23)

‘For, because of’:

ezˁémoʰ ḥánˀeʰ ˁážeʰ wa-díˀseʰ bέbɛʰ wa-seʰ kúľľeʰ yom tö́boš díˀseʰ ḷe-muṭáľľaḳ ‘So they went on like that, the woman and her father, and every day she wept about her husband who divorced her’ (CSOL II 1:135)

‘About, concerning’:

ḷeteˁéyhen wa-ktob ˁéʸhen énneʰ íľľi ḳetáľ ˁadúww as-suľṭán múgšem bɛr diˀegέḷed ‘He defeated them and left this inscription about them: “The one who defeated the enemy of the sultan was the son of Cowhide”’ (CSOL II 1:121)

‘Against’:

yɔʰ mɔn šíˀho ḷe-ˁebéroʰ ‘Who is with me against this generation’ (CSOL II 5:1)

Denoting duty, obligation:

wa-díˀʸheʰ ˁážeʰ aḷ-ˁad ˁes kaḷ tezóˁom wa-tsɛ ‘As for his wife, she was just staying there and eating’ (CSOL II 15:9)

Malefactive:

wa-ḥére έˀɛfo ľáḳaˁ wa-ˀaḷ-ḳaˁ wa-di-ˀaḷḳaˁ yezáˁa ˁeʸh díˀʸheʰ mέľ ‘And they tried to solve the riddle, but could not; and whoever could not solve the riddle, the boy took from him his wealth’ (CSOL II 4:7)