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Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2009The times they are a-changing
Ladies and Gentlemen: _The times they are a-changing._ It is the title of one of Bob Dylan's albums. What does "a-changing" mean? What is the difference between "changing" and "a-changing"? Best Wishes Tacia -- native Chinese speaker > Ladies and Gentlemen: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > What does "a-changing" mean? > What is the difference between "changing" and "a-changing"? There is only a very tiny difference. The "a-" imparts a sense of action, of activity. The use of a-<verb>ing feels like some sort of reference back to an older grammatical form which I don't recognise - possibly Germanic. But its use in poetry or songs is mostly to help the meter - to help the words fit the rhythm of the music. See also: All the birds of the air fell A-sighing and a-sobbing When they heard of The death of poor Cock Robin. When they heard of The death of poor Cock Robin. and: A frog he would a-wooing go, Hey ho, says Rowley, A frog he would a-wooing go, Whether his mother would let him or no. With a rowley, powley, gammon and spinich, Hey ho, says Anthony Rowley. and: Here we come a-wassailing Among the leaves so green; Here we come a-wandering So fair to be seen.  SignatureDavid >> Ladies and Gentlemen: >> _The times they are a-changing._ [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] >Here we come a-wandering >So fair to be seen. Somewhere in the far distant past, I 'found out' that it comes from the French "à la" + gerund. For "All the birds of the air fell A-sighing and a-sobbing" read "All the birds of the air fell to the sighing and to the sobbing", where, of course, "fell to" means "set about". This usually makes sense. As has been suggested, the "a-" imparts a sense of action or activity. However, I might be completely mistaken about the French connection. SignatureIan >>> Ladies and Gentlemen: >>> _The times they are a-changing._ [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] >>possibly Germanic. But its use in poetry or songs is mostly to help >>the meter - to help the words fit the rhythm of the music. > Somewhere in the far distant past, I 'found out' that it comes from > the French "à la" + gerund. For [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > sense of action or activity. However, I might be completely mistaken > about the French connection. Probably you are, since "à la" is idiomatic French and means "in the style or manner of", not "to the" even though that's what the individual words "à" and "la" mean. Boeuf à la Bourginon (I probably bobbled the spelling on at least part of that. Sorry.) isn't beef to the Burgundians, it's beef in the style of the Bungundians >>>> Ladies and Gentlemen: >>>> _The times they are a-changing._ [quoted text clipped - 25 lines] >spelling on at least part of that. Sorry.) isn't beef to the >Burgundians, it's beef in the style of the Bungundians Indeed. This is (I recall) the 'attributive' use of "à la" (or "au"). But even this still 'sort of' fits in with many of the scenarios where "a-" is used. If you said "All the birds of the air fell in the manner of sighing and in the manner of sobbing", it would be comprehensible. However, I see from more-learned contributors that any assumption about a French connection is incorrect, so I won't argue my case further! SignatureIan > Indeed. This is (I recall) the 'attributive' use of "à la" (or "au"). Or "au"? Isn't "à la" in this sense always feminine, short for "à la mode de"? ¬R >> Indeed. This is (I recall) the 'attributive' use of "à la" (or "au"). > >Or "au"? Isn't "à la" in this sense always feminine, short for "à la >mode de"? > >¬R Like, as in "steak au poivre"? SignatureIan >Like, as in "steak au poivre"? Steak in the style of pepper? Dried and finely ground? ¬R There's really no such thing as a Loser's Club. --Spot http://users.bestweb.net/~notr/emopvere.html Sorry! 1019 >>Like, as in "steak au poivre"? > > Steak in the style of pepper? Dried and finely ground? Café au lait! Signature| _ | ( ) ASCII Ribbon Campaign | X Against HTML email & news | / \ www.asciiribbon.org >> Indeed. This is (I recall) the 'attributive' use of "à la" (or "au"). > > Or "au"? Isn't "à la" in this sense always feminine, short for "à la > mode de"? I never figured out whether it was à la mode/manière or façon, but it's not quite always feminine: au chasseur. SignatureRob Bannister > I never figured out whether it was à la mode/manière or façon, but plenty of lexicographers claim to know. > not quite always feminine: au chasseur. Interesting. I wonder if that might be in the sense of "for": game prepared (as if) for the hunter. ¬R >> I never figured out whether it was à la mode/manière or façon, but > plenty of lexicographers claim to know. [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Interesting. I wonder if that might be in the sense of "for": game > prepared (as if) for the hunter. Spanish has "a la moda (manera)" and "al estilo de", so I don't see why the French wouldn't have the same variations. But I don't know the French for "style". And I would think of "cacciatore" or "chasseur" as "the way the hunters cook it", or "hunter style". Mario Batali, who had some experience in Spanish and Italian cuisine, described "cacciatore" as originating in a forager's meal, taking in the game caught (say, venison and/or rabbit and/or various birds), in addition to fruits of the countryside that the hunters tramp through . .esp. mushrooms, but also nuts and herbs. >> Ladies and Gentlemen: >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >reference back to an older grammatical form which I don't recognise - >possibly Germanic. Well, there's no French connection here. The "a" is a worn-down form of the English preposition "on". OED a, prep.1 "II. With a verbal noun or gerund, forming part of a verbal expression. (Now usually written with a hyphen or as one word with the verbal noun.) 11. Expressing action, with a verbal noun or gerund taken actively. Now arch. and regional. a. After be (or occasionally another verb expressing state) and before a verbal noun: engaged in (some activity)." Constructions like "a-changing" then developed as an equivalent to the present participle. > But its use in poetry or songs is mostly to help >the meter - to help the words fit the rhythm of the music. [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] >Here we come a-wandering >So fair to be seen. Not to be confused with the construction in "Sumer is i-cumen in". This doesn't mean "a-coming" but is the Middle English equivalent of the German perfect tense "ist gekommen". In other words, "summer is come in" or, as we would now say, "summer has come in". James >>> Ladies and Gentlemen: >>> [quoted text clipped - 59 lines] > > James Probably also not to be connected to: Oh, the sun can never dip so low A-down affection's cloudless sky. Searching for the lyrics to Sweet Lorena cost me a half-hour. But the song is "Lorena". Finally looking for "adown+Lorena", I found it in Wikipedia. ("Sweet Lorena" is a rough blues song.) >"James Hogg" <Jas.HoggOUT@SPAM.gmail.com> wrote in message >> Not to be confused with the construction in "Sumer is i-cumen [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] >Oh, the sun can never dip so low >A-down affection's cloudless sky. As you suspect, the "a" in "a-down" has a different origin, coming from "of". The word originally meant "off the hill". Quite a few words and prefixes have been worn down to "a": one (a man) of (akin) on (twice a day, once an hour, nowadays, asleep) OE ge- (alike) OE or- (awake) And of course "have", as in "I shoulda known". It seems that pronunciation could be differently shod even before the English language was taken to America. James >>"James Hogg" <Jas.HoggOUT@SPAM.gmail.com> wrote in message >>> Not to be confused with the construction in "Sumer is i-cumen [quoted text clipped - 19 lines] > > And of course "have", as in "I shoulda known". Good one. > It seems that pronunciation could be differently shod even > before the English language was taken to America. >> Ladies and Gentlemen: >> [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] >reference back to an older grammatical form which I don't recognise - >possibly Germanic. The OED says: a-, prefix1 With verbs, implying motion onward or away from a position; hence (originally with verbs of motion) adding intensity. Some other a- words: awake, amend, arise,... The OED entry has 17 lines of etymological notes. Here's the first: Originally a variant of OR- prefix, showing an unstressed form of the prefix used in verbal compounds (see discussion at OR- prefix). ... or-, prefix Cognate with Old Frisian or-, ur-, Middle Dutch or-, oor- (Dutch oor-), Old Saxon ur-, or- (Middle Low German {omac}r-), Old High German ur- (Middle High German ur-, German ur-), Old Icelandic ør-, Gothic us-, ur-, uz-, cognate with the preposition Old High German ur, Old Icelandic {omac}r, Old Swedish or, ur (Swedish ur), Gothic us out, out of; further etymology uncertain. Frequent in Old English, retained in a few words in Middle English, now only traceable in ORDEAL n., and perhaps ORT n., where it is no longer recognized as a significant element. SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) >>> Ladies and Gentlemen: >>> [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > only traceable in ORDEAL n., and perhaps ORT n., where it is no longer > recognized as a significant element. No, this one is OED a, prep.1 II. 11. a-d. There you'll find a host of examples, from "he ligge a swæting" (1275) to "Didn't you just hear the man a-slandering me?" (1968) James Tacia set the following eddies spiralling through the space-time continuum: > Ladies and Gentlemen: > [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > What does "a-changing" mean? > What is the difference between "changing" and "a-changing"? "They say time changes things, but actually you have to change them yourself." - Andy Warhol Signatureξ:) Proud to be curly Interchange the alphabetic letter groups to reply |
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