Date:  Thu, 3 Apr 1997 13:37:38 -0500
<br>From:  Mark Mandel  Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM 
<br>Subject: "for to"
<br>
<br>I recall a song I learned from a Weavers record in the fifties, sounding like
<br>white US folk-song tradition of (at a guess) not earlier than 1850 at
<br>earliest, and maybe any time since then. Every verse ended with "I come
<br>for to sing", which was also the title. One verse ran:
<br>
<br>    Some folks enjoy me, others do not.
<br>    Some love to EX-tol on what I ain't got.
<br>    Me, I don't mind, it don't mean a thing.
<br>    But as for me, I come for to sing.
<br>
<br>Of course, songs in this tradition constantly borrow from each other, so
<br>the construction might have been archaic in the *speech* of the author.
<br>
<br>    Mark A. Mandel : Senior Linguist : mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]dragonsys.com
<br>  Dragon Systems, Inc. : speech recognition : +1 617 965-5200
<br> 320 Nevada St., Newton, MA 02160, USA : http://www.dragonsys.com/
<br>      Personal home page: http://world.std.com/~mam/
<br>