Citat:
Ursprungligen postat av
Fri
The times they are a-changin'
Tydligen från en Bob Dylan-lyrik (eller finns det äldre exempel?) Vad har insättningen av ett "a", en obestämd artikel, för betydelse? Kan det generaliseras, finns det andra exempel på motsvarande användning i andra sammanhang?
"The a- prefix is a reduction of Old English an/on, meaning on, used to express progressive aspect.
English used to have more of a distinction between present simple and present progressive; what we now say as “the times are changing” was expressed in Old English as “the times change”. In order to emphasise the progressive aspect (the times are currently in the process of changing), you would have said “the times are on the change”. I believe this is related to some set phrases such as “on the run”.
The usage is still current in in Dutch as aan het (“Ik ben aan het lopen” = “I’m walking”). In English it’s now used almost exclusively in poetry—normally music, and folk music at that—since it provides a convenient way to fill out a syllable and tweak the stress pattern of the sentence."
