A-huntin' The Sources of Appalachian English

Backcountry Notes ^ | March 26, 2010 | Jay Henderson

[jay1949]

An order of the Virginia Colonial Council dated May 4, 1725, concerned an allegation that "divers Indians plundered the Quarters of Mr. John Taliaferro near the great mountains [i.e., the Blue Ridge] . . .[and carried off] some of the Guns belonging to and marked with the name of Spottsylvania County . . . ." The Council concluded: "It is ordered that it be referred to Colo. Harrison to make inquiry which of the Nottoway Indians or other Tributaries have been out ahunting about that time . . . ."

Now, the Colonial Council was an august body and its proceedings were formal, so we can be sure that "ahunting" was not common slang. It was, on the contrary, an accepted usage which is now obsolete except in Appalachia and the Ozarks, where folks still go "out a-huntin'."

[muir_redwoods]

for later

[Genoa]

Scots-Irish migrated down the Appalachians from Pennsylvania during the colonial period and became isolated there, avoiding later homogenizing of the language. There are similarities today between Appalachian speech and dialects of English still spoken in the UK. For example, some pronouncing the past tense of “eat” as “et.”

[mel]

Interesting. thanks will bookmark

[Tax-chick]

Ping!

[Semper Mark]

Interestin’ thread ping.

[calex59]

You’ve got it. We of Scots-Irish descent know where the language came from.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

A mechanic I knew some years back liked to conclude his sentences with a verbal exclamation, “what I did.”

I would ask the status of one our mining machines and he would respond, “I just changed the oil in the D-9. What I did...”

I’ve always wondered where this came from.

[IrishPennant]

We go a fishing too.

[Boonie]

Other words are very old English...fetch, reckon, kivvers (covers)

Also, along with a-huntin’ we’ve said a-courtin’, a-fishin’...most words ending with “ing”

[don-o]

I’m a-fixing to mark this thread to keep up with it because I reckon it will be a good ‘un, if you’uns will keep it going

[Genoa]

Yes, the “a” prefix can be seen many times in the King James Version.
Psalm 73:27, for example: “For, lo, they that are far from thee shall perish: thou hast destroyed all them that go a whoring from thee.”

[Boonie]

I’ve heard people accuse southern Appalachians as saying “crik” for creek...I’ve lived in the Tennessee mountains (not even 3 miles from the Smokey Mtns Nat’l Park)
for 63 years...I’ve NEVER heard a person born and raised here say “crik or crick”...It’s always creek...

We say a crik is what you get in your neck...a creek is where you go ‘a-fishin’....

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Chattanooga and environs are some of my favorite places to visit.

[Semper Mark]

I'm from around the same area and I never heard anyone use “crik” unless they were joking, and that includes the ol’ timey mountain folk.

[Genoa]

“Crik” is a typical Northeastern U.S. pronunciation of “creek.” I suspect that large numbers of New England settlers came from parts of England where that was the usual pronunciation.

[DManA]

One southernism that strikes my ear odd is instead of saying

I think da da da.

they will say

I feel like that da da da.

[stainlessbanner]

Dixie ping

We haven't had a good dialect thread in a while...post your southernisms

[Genoa]

“Crik” is a typical Northeastern U.S. pronunciation of “creek.” I suspect that large numbers of New England settlers came from parts of England where that was the usual pronunciation.

I say this because going back along my maternal line, they are rural New Englanders by descent. My mother and her mother said "crik." (For speech, I look to the women, who are the ones from whom children learn most of their language.)

[mjp]

Scotch-Irish speech found in the Appalachians and the Ozarks is also called southern highland or southern midland speech.They say whar for where, thar for there, hard for hired,critter for creature,sartin for certain,a-goin for going, hit for it, far for fire,deef for deaf,pizen for poison,nekkid for naked, eetch for itch,boosh for bush.