It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the literal meanings 'in place of' and 'in the footsteps of', clearly attested in OA and OfA, develop into the general prepositional sense. The early attestations could be translated either way. See, too, the note s.v. ˀḥry prep.
In Syriac the temporal usage has generally been transferred to mn btr, while alone the meaning is spacial.