What on earth does "a-" mean before a verb?

Question

Ayup everybody!

I often came across words such as "a-going" instead of "going" and I was wondering whether the "a-" has a particular meaning, if it's typical of informal language and simply, why.

Thanks a lot!

Cheers.

PS: English is not my 1st language...

Thanks for your answers so far.
Something has just come to my mind while reading your answers...
Do you think there's any link, etymologically, in the relations between:
- wake and awake
- rouse and arouse
...?

Answer 1

Hi there.
It is an old-fashioned usage and derives from the French "a", meaning "to". So if some body was going "a-milking", they were en route to where the milking would take place but had not yet arrived nor begun the actual milking. Once they were miling, the "a-" would no longer apply.
We don't use this construction any more.
Cheers, Steve.

Answer 2

Froggy went a-courting and he did ride, uh-huh.... (an old song)

The "a" is dialectic, not standard, and as far as I ever was able to tell, it means nothing, but is just a different way to say the word. My grandfather, raised in Illinois, late 1800's early 1900's, used it frequently, but my grandmother, born in Nebraska in 1901, never used it at all. My father, born in the 1920's and raised in Colorado used an a- with a verb mostly when he was excited, as in "You are not a-goin' to get away with stoppin' before we're a-done!"

I think it is used far less commonly now than it would have been a hundred years ago, but you might still hear it before an affirmative answer in some north-eastern rural dialects. I think you would, a-yup.

(Thanks for the question - it was a trip down an auditory memory lane for me, with warm memories of people I can't listen to any longer.)

Answer 3

"a-" prefixes at the beginning of English verbs actually come from several different sources, with different meanings.

Dictionary.com lists SIX "a" prefixes, four of which may appear before verbs:

(a-1 to a-3 are from English roots, a4 to a-6 from Latin)

a-1
'a reduced form of the Old English preposition on, meaning "on," "in," "into," "to," "toward,"

THIS is the one you were asking about -- used, among other things, before a present participle in -ing (set the bells aringing)

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)."

This is the prefix found in "arouse".

a-4
variation of ab- meaning "away from", e.g., "avert"

a-5
variation of ad- meaning "to, toward"
(often with the sense of increase, addition): e.g., "amass", "ascend"

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/a-

Answer 4

It was more commonly used in the past - a lot of folk songs start 'As I was a-walking...' and is now used to imply a link to the past. Steve J is quite right about the source, but these days you're only really likely to find it in older texts or (more commonly) old or folk song lyrics.

Answer 5

It's associated with dialect English, particularly the southwestern dialects, Somerset & Devon. It doesn't mean anything. It just adds an extra lilt to the word.

I suspect also it's obsolete (no longer spoken), but others may prove me wrong.

Answer 6

It's just a way of adding rhythm to English. It is often used in poems.

Answer 7

It is not correct English to do this it is a form of slang.