prôtê means "first" as in first in a sequence. It's a superlative adjective that means "most before." It's not a preposition. It doesn't mean "before," and that would make no sense with the rest of the sentence anyway, since it says "while Quirinius was governing." It would make no sense to say "this was the census before while Quirinius was governing." | prôtê means "first" as in first in a sequence. It's a superlative adjective that means "most before." It's not a preposition. It doesn't mean "before," and that would make no sense with the rest of the sentence anyway, since it says "while Quirinius was governing." It would make no sense to say "this was the census before while Quirinius was governing." |