12 Days of Christmas

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Funkijunki  #464325  Tue, 15 Jan 08 01:49 AM

it's a christmas carol ,there are something like"6 geese a-laying,7 swans a-swimming,etc."in it.i don't get this kind of expression like"a-doing",does it mean" 6 laying geese or 7 swimming swans?"

  
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Philip  #464328  Tue, 15 Jan 08 01:56 AM
 Funkijunki wrote:

it's a christmas carol ,there are something like"6 geese a-laying,7 swans a-swimming,etc."in it.i don't get this kind of expression like"a-doing",does it mean" 6 laying geese or 7 swimming swans?"

My guess is that it's poetice license.  Other than that, it might be a common construction in Elizabethan English.
  
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