# Who started adding a- to english verbs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285 "2012-05-08T15:38:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sheriru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sheriru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sheriru)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/1 "2012-05-08T15:38:23Z")
Anyone know who started that? Or did it just occur suddenly? Or is it an english use? Examples would be “aflying” or “aflopping”. Verbs with an a- attached. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/2 "2012-05-08T15:58:50Z")
I do it kiddingly because I was raised by 1st generation Italian Americans. and part of the Italian accent in America is a noticable addition of an “a” in front of words or between words. \*He went a-running to his a rooma-a when I told him to a-shutta uppa. \* Maybe this helps. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/3 "2012-05-08T15:59:45Z")
This is a verb prefix attached to present tense progressive aspect verb forms, and is standard in American [Appalachian English](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_English), although it certainly didn’t originate there. According to [this site](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Archives/Language/2008_August_31#a-...), it’s derived from an archaic prefix “or-” (and/or the preposition “on”: I’m not clear about the precise sequence) in earlier forms of English. It’s been considered an archaic or dialect feature in English since at least the sixteenth century, but I don’t know when it actually originated. [PBS _American Varieties_ feature:](http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/americanvarieties/a-prefixing/background/) “A-Prefixing in Appalachian English: Archaism or Innovation?” > [@](#): > > Briefly the paper also examines three possible Old World origins for the prefix: 1) England; 2) southern Ireland (where it has been argued to reflect a verbal noun construction in Gaelic), and 3) Ulster/northern Ireland (where antecedents of many other Appalachian grammatical features may be found). From both the historical record and from contemporary variation only the first of these origins is supportable. Taken together, the historical and modern-day perspectives show that a grammatical form has evolved into a phonological one. ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/4 "2012-05-08T16:18:49Z")
I don’t know if it’s related, but there is a an old English round [Summer is icumen in](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer_Is_Icumen_In). Note - the “i” in icumen is not a typo. Whether the icumen became acoming, I don’t know, but it’s gotta be a reasonable hypothesis. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/5 "2012-05-08T16:40:39Z")
“Froggy Went a-Courtin’” comes from Scotland in the mid-1500s, so it was at least in use that early. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/6 "2012-05-08T17:01:46Z")
I tend to think of this as a poeticism, often deliberately intended to sound archaic. ---
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/7 "2012-05-08T17:01:46Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > I do it kiddingly because I was raised by 1st generation Italian Americans. and part of the Italian accent in America is a noticable addition of an “a” in front of words or between words. > > \*He went a-running to his a rooma-a when I told him to a-shutta uppa. \* > > Maybe this helps. That’s not the same - as you can tell from your own quote, you are adding a’s to the end of words, regardless of whether they are verbs or not, because Italian speakers have trouble pronouncing consonants at the end of words, since this does not occur naturally in Italian all too often. So it’s not: ‘He went a-running’ but ‘He wenta running’ What the OP is looking for is something like Bob Dylan’s ‘The times they are a-changing’. I wonder if it’s a similar a- as the prefix in alight, akin, atop, afloat, aboard, around, (maybe even ‘about’?)? ETA: and ‘asunder’, ‘aloft’, ‘aside’? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/8 "2012-05-08T17:07:32Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > I wonder if it’s a similar a- as the prefix in alight, akin, atop, afloat, aboard, around, (maybe even ‘about’?)? > > ETA: and ‘asunder’, ‘aloft’, ‘aside’? The second page I linked to in my previous post indicates that it is: > [@](#): > > The prefix developed from erosion of an original preposition on/an in Old English (see the Oxford English Dictionary), observable today in such alternations as afire/on fire. This clear historical pathway and two other facts argue that the prefix in Appalachian and other varieties of English is governed primarily by phonological factors. First, it occurs on a variety of forms other than present participles, including nouns (3), adjectives (4), adverbs (5), and prepositions (6) […] ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/9 "2012-05-08T17:11:34Z")
Or there’s always the good old [dictionary](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/a-). > [@](#): > > a- 1   > a reduced form of the Old English preposition on, meaning “on,” “in,” “into,” “to,” “toward,” preserved before a noun in a prepositional phrase, forming a predicate adjective or an adverbial element ( afoot; abed; ashore; aside; away ), or before an adjective ( afar; aloud; alow ), as a moribund prefix with a verb ( acknowledge ), and in archaic and dialectal use before a present participle in -ing ( set the bells aringing ); and added to a verb stem with the force of a present participle ( ablaze; agape; aglow; astride; and originally, awry). > > Origin: > Middle English, late Old English; compare a- 2 , nowadays > > a- 2   > a reduced form of the Old English preposition of: akin; afresh; anew. > > Origin: > Middle English; see a- 3 > > a- 3   > an old point-action prefix, not referring to an act as a whole, but only to the beginning or end: She arose (rose up). They abided by their beliefs (remained faithful to the end). > > Origin: > Middle English; Old English a- (unstressed), ǣ-, ā-, ō- (stressed; see abb, woof1 , oakum), rarely or- ( see ordeal) ≪ Germanic \*uz- \< unstressed Indo-European \*uss- \< \*ud-s, akin to out; in some cases confused with a- 4 , as in abridge ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/10 "2012-05-08T17:24:17Z")
I wonder if it can be related to the French “a” as it to, or toward. (or shortened way of saying “at”) “Froggy went to courting” is a mildly antiquated or hillbilly-sounding but not horribly incorrect way of saying the same thing as with “a-”. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/11 "2012-05-08T17:58:05Z")
Yeah, but I think the OP is looking for a specific person’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Sheriru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Sheriru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sheriru)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/12 "2012-05-08T20:29:36Z")
Kimstu, I certainly had a blast reading about Appalachian English. But I’m not sure that’s where it originated. I’ve seen that it originated in England, and since this is where English even began, and from what I’ve read and my own person experience, I believe it originated in England. People probably just prefixed a to words to substitute for to/on/in/at, as Kimstu stated. I’ll continuing researching and reading. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/13 "2012-05-08T20:35:19Z")
Maid of Amsterdam (chorus: A-rovin’, A-rovin’, A-rovin’s been my ru-i-n) dates back to at least 1608 in England. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/14 "2012-05-09T00:59:53Z")
> [@Sheriru](#): > > Kimstu, I certainly had a blast reading about Appalachian English. But I’m not sure that’s where it originated. It did not. As I said back in post #3, > [@Kimstu](#): > > This is a verb prefix attached to present tense progressive aspect verb forms, and is standard in American Appalachian English, although it certainly didn’t originate there. > [@Sheriru](#): > > I’ve seen that it originated in England, and since this is where English even began, and from what I’ve read and my own person experience, I believe it originated in England. Right. As I quoted in post #8 from that linked PBS article: > [@](#): > > Briefly the paper also examines three possible Old World origins for the prefix: 1) England; 2) southern Ireland […], and 3) Ulster/northern Ireland […]. From both the historical record and from contemporary variation only the first of these origins is supportable. > [@Sheriru](#): > > I’ll continuing researching and reading. Good idea. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![matteo\_moku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@matteo\_moku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matteo_moku)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/15 "2012-05-31T21:50:20Z")
In Italian,if the letter “a” is set as first letter,it often(but not always) denies the following word,for instance:asociale(not social),anormale(not normal),amorale(not moral)…this use derives from Greek,so,maybe,it exists in English,too. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/16 "2012-05-31T21:57:46Z")
> [@matteo\_moku](#): > > In Italian,if the letter “a” is set as first letter,it often(but not always) denies the following word,for instance:asociale(not social),anormale(not normal),amorale(not moral)…this use derives from Greek,so,maybe,it exists in English,too. It does, but it’s irrelevant to the topic of this thread. There is more than one type of “a-” prefix in the English language. The so-called “privative a” prefix used to negate the meaning of the word it’s prefixed to does exist in English, e.g., in the English cognates of a couple of your own examples, namely “asocial” and “amoral”. However, the “a-” of the “privative a” prefix is not the same as the “a-” of the present tense progressive aspect verb prefix that the OP was asking about. ---
**Author:** ![matteo\_moku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@matteo\_moku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matteo_moku)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/17 "2012-06-01T12:29:10Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > It does, but it’s irrelevant to the topic of this thread. There is more than one type of “a-” prefix in the English language. > > The so-called “privative a” prefix used to negate the meaning of the word it’s prefixed to does exist in English, e.g., in the English cognates of a couple of your own examples, namely “asocial” and “amoral”. > > However, the “a-” of the “privative a” prefix is not the same as the “a-” of the present tense progressive aspect verb prefix that the OP was asking about. OK,I understand… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/18 "2012-06-01T14:13:57Z")
> [@matteo\_moku](#): > > In Italian,if the letter “a” is set as first letter,it often(but not always) denies the following word,for instance:asociale(not social),anormale(not normal),amorale(not moral)…this use derives from Greek,so,maybe,it exists in English,too. Why do you think this comes from Greek? ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/19 "2012-06-01T14:24:40Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Why do you think this comes from Greek? [This site](http://german.about.com/library/verbs/blverb_pre01.htm), which I found looking for a German root of the _a-_ question, says that English prefixes do come from Greek. But it’s clearly not all English prefixes, as _be-_ (making a verb reflexive) comes directly from German. Plus, it’s [about.com](http://about.com), who I don’t find entirely reliable. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285/20 "2012-06-01T15:23:46Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [This site](http://german.about.com/library/verbs/blverb_pre01.htm), which I found looking for a German root of the _a-_ question, says that English prefixes do come from Greek. > > But it’s clearly not all English prefixes, as _be-_ (making a verb reflexive) comes directly from German. Yup, and as I noted above, the “progressive aspect” verb prefix “a-” that is the subject of this thread comes from an Old English preposition _an, on_. English grammar is a real linguistic chowder of elements from its Germanic roots and elements borrowed wholesale from the classical languages and never returned. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-started-adding-a-to-english-verbs/621285.md?page=2)