gwine

[Jonathan Lighter]

>From Henry Louis Gates, Jr., _Figures in Black_ (1987; rpt. N.Y.: Oxford U. P., 1989), p. 191 ( The author is considering the appearance of "gwine" in an old spiritual :

  "Gwine to sit down at the welcome table,
  Gwine to feast off milk and honey." ) :

  "Gwine," for instance, is still commonly found in Black speech. It is basically untranslatable, yet, with a little reflection, we must see that the full import of the word goes far beyond its referent 'I am going to,' and implies far more. "Gwine" implies a filial devotion to a moral order but also the completion, the restoration, of harmony in a universe out of step somehow. "Gwine" asserts a reordering, again this restoration rhythmic, its diphthong heightening its force on the heels on the breathily spoken "gw" sound, the "w" tempering the hard "g." "Gwine" connotes unshakeable determination, the act to come made certain to come by the act of speech. "Gwine" leaves no room for doubt, for question, for vacillation...."Gwine" contains a concept, a way of looking at the world, not fully translated by "I am going to." With "gwine," people accept their primal place in the bosom of God.

  JL


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