The local, temporal, and conditional meanings of the German locative preposition 'bei' are explained as polysemy in the framework of cognitive grammar and semantics. Image schemata developed for the prototypical local meanings of 'bei' (at) and 'an' (on) model an atemporal relation of trajector-landmark proximity within a larger territory in the former and one of proximity with possible contact and no surrounding territory in the latter. The use of 'bei' with nouns designating persons is analyzed as metonymy as the landmark is a place or work associated with the person; usage with conditions is subsumed under a metaphor identifying states with bounded regions of space. Temporal usage is shown to imply a spatially conceived duration, and the notion of an episodic noun defined by Ronald Langacker (1987) is applied to the use of 'bei' with nominalized verbs. (Copyright 1997, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (LLBA 1997, vol. 31, n. 4)