Re: adjectives and adverbs

Chris wrote:
> Charlie wrote:
> > I delight in American regionalisms.  I was in Wal-mart the other day
> > and I overheard one woman say to another, "Are you goin' to the
> > pharmacy?  That's where I'm a-goin'."  I wonder if there's any rule
> > for when this "a-" can be used.
>
> This was the original form. English got the progressive am ...ing tense
> by saying "I am at ----ing", later shortened to "I am a-...ing" then the
> a was dropped completely in standard English. In some dialects I know
> it's used more often with the most common verbs like go than with
> uncommon verbs I think, and some seem to retain it for all verbs.
It's true that it was the original form, based on a preposition
plus gerund, but the preposition in question was not _aet_ but
_on_.  The /n/ was deleted in the same way as it was in many
other constructions, like _afraid_ and _against_ and e.g. _once
a day_ (< _on daege_).

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