afore - From Ulster to America
Source: From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English
Author: Michael Montgomery
Comments: From Ulster to America recounts the lasting impact eighteenth-century settlers from Ulster have made on the development of the English language of the United States. The book documents over 500 vocabulary items contributed to American English by these ‘Scotch-Irish’ settlers. Each ‘shared’ term with its meaning is authenticated by quotations from both sides of the Atlantic. This searchable online version of his book takes its text from the dictionary part of the second edition published by the Ullans Press in 2017.
afore adv, conj, prep Of position: before, preceding, in front of. Of time: before, previous to, earlier than. [< Old English on- ‘on’ + foran ‘in front, in advance’; oed afore represents Old English prep on foran, ætforan ‘in front of’ c1000→ as adv, 1205→ as prep, 1340→ as conj; dost afore A adv 1 ‘at an earlier time or date, preceding’ 1494→, B prep 1 ‘before; earlier than’ 1541→, C conj ‘before’ 1536→; dare once widespread, now chiefly South, Midland]
1 adv
Ulst.:
1824 McHenry Insurgent Chief 13 I had na’ sae muckle this twalmonth afore.
1895 MacManus Leadin’ Road 15 The lake of what’s goin’ on in thondher I nivir rested me eyes on afore and trust I nivir may again.
1928 McKay Oul’ Town 55 Nobody iver accused me, Paddy, of bein’ backward at maletime afore.
1935 Megaw Carragloon 108 I know now a wee thing I didn’t know afore.
1942 Bangor Words 1 = before: ‘I have heard that afore’.
U.S.:
1849 Lanham Allegheny Mts 89 Now, the way the thing happened was this, and I reckon you never heard sich like afore.
1975 Chalmers Better 37 I ’lowed I’d send fer you, but I done what you told me afore, and it holp me some.
2 prep
Ulst.:
1893 Bullock Awkward Squad 96 As I wus sayin’, afore this interruption, these twenty or thirty blaggards took possession av the castle.
1897 McIlroy Lint in Bell 118 Ye’r nae man ava’, that can stan’ tae the yin side and let anither snap up the lass frae afore ye’r face.
c1955 Montgomery Heard in Ulster 5 He didnae dee afore his time.
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 4 It lucks that bad afore folk.
U.S.:
1844 Thompson Major Jones’ Courtship 75 She gin her galls a rite good talkin to rite afore me.
1899 Green Virginia Word-Book 61 A little afore day.
1937 Hall Coll I allowed he’d return afore this.
1955 Parris Roaming Mts 77 I heard the dogs a-comin’ and knowed without askin’ that the bear was afore them.
3 conj
Ulst.:
1838 McIlwham McIlwham Papers 15 It was lang afore the bairn got weel, an’ its illness put a’ ither things oot o’ my head.
1895 MacManus Leadin’ Road 22 I’ll make it hot for ye afore ye go home to Susy again.
1910 Russell Language of Ulster 32 The word ‘afore’ is common in Ulster. It is used equally as meaning before in time: e.g. ‘He was there afore I kem up’; or as before in place, as, ‘He stud up afore him’.
c1955 Montgomery Heard in Ulster 3 I’ll ax ye yin question afore I leave.
1983 Marshall Drumlister 106 I knowed a man in the mountain, / And afore he dug the spuds / He coorted a great big woman / With sweets an’ cinnamon buds.
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 4 Ye could see anither war afore al’s by.
U.S.:
1871 Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster 28 Twas when my Jack, him as died afore Bud was born, was a baby.
1937 Hall Coll That happened afore I left the Smoky [Mountains].
1973 GSMNP-83:26 I was special deputy afore I was deputy under [the] high sheriff of Sevier County two year.
