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In Lingua Latina per se illustrata, chapter 7, there are several examples of phrases where a compound verb, using a preposition as a prefix, is used in conjunction with a lone preposition:

Quid inest in saccīs?
Iūlius ad vīllam advenit.
Iūlia ē cubiculō exit

What is the purpose of this repetition? For example, in place of the second sentence, why not either of these options:

Iūlius vīllam advenit.
Iūlius ad vīllam venit.

Does a lack of repetition here make the sentence ungrammatical? Or is the purpose emphasis, or something else?

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    Often a prefix changes the tone of the verb in a different way than the preposition suggests. For example, invenire aliquid is very different from venire in aliquid. Therefore the preposition and the prefix contribute to the meaning in different ways. In your examples this difference seems slight, though; the repetition is just for emphasis and redundancy.
    – Joonas Ilmavirta
    Commented Jun 27, 2016 at 14:37

1 Answer 1

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All three versions (Július villam advenit, Július ad villam advenit, and Július ad villam venit) are grammatically correct. My sense is that the latter two are more frequently found than the first, but I can't swear by that.

In Latin Prose Through English Idiom (1882), Edwin Abbott writes (all emphases and capitalization as in the original)

A few general rules may be laid down about Latin Verbs containing Prepositions and conveying a notion of motion to, or motion from Such verbs, e.g. detraho, can be used metaphorically or literally. If we say 'princeps detrahit milites' we do not mean that the emperor literally himself draws away the soldiers; but in 'detrahit anulum' the Verb is literally used. Literal motion must be more emphatically expressed. If literally used, they require the Preposition to be repeated for emphasis.

Princeps detraxit milites imperatori.
Princeps detraxit anulum de digito suo.

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