for to - 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.
for to, for tae, for till infinitive phr To (usually = ‘in order to’). [oed (at for preposition 11a) now dialect]
Ulst.:
1813 Porter Poetical Attempts Yet, water, for to tell the truth / Is famous aye for quenchin’ drouth.
1861 Hume Rabbin’s Ollminick 9 Whin they hev only a wee bit o’ lan’[,] thats not enough for to keep two horses.
1886 Lyttle Ballycuddy 21 If A micht ventur to gie ye a wurd o’ advice A wud say fur till hae a wheen o’ these yins pit oot.
1900 Given Poems 210 I want for tae ken is there truth in the story / That auld Cullybackey will soon hae a hall, / Whar its Masons may meet in their ancient-day glory, / ’Thoot breakin’ the law though policemen may call.
1903 Gwynn Highways and Byways 10 Ah’m not goin’ for to brag till yer honor, but their chara’kter was just noble, that’s what it was.
1942 Bangor Words 32 for to = used frequently before the infinitive: ‘Why did you go for to do that?’
1975 Murphy You’re Talking 42 The wife was pleading with the husband for to give the old man a chance but he wouldn’t listen.
1982 Glassie Folk History 85 Then there was agents appointed then for to collect the rents.
2014 Fenton Hamely Tongue 92 A’ll need the key for tae lock in the hens.
U.S.:
1800 Osborn Diary (1 Jan) I began again for to run my still but but I am not very fit for hard Leabour.
1834 Crockett Narrative 62 It was about two weeks after this that I was sent for to engage in a wolf hunt.
1851 (in 1983 Heap Bucks Co Word List 33) Elizabeth Seabrook come for to spend the day with them.
1871 Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster 40 I was goin fer to say that when Squaire Hawkins married Virginny Gray he got a heap of money.
1908 Payne Word-list East Alabama 312 for to = in order to: ‘What did you come here for to do?’
1931 Maxfield Speech SW Penn 19 Sarah never like for to have Jane wear mourning.
1939 Hall Coll I had to pick sang and pick up chestnuts for to buy what we had to wear.
