"Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 12:49 PM 8/1/2007, you wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
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>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject:      Re: "Trolling" for "Trawling": An Eggcorn?
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>
>On Aug 1, 2007, at 9:05 AM, Beverly Flanigan wrote:
>
> > "Troll the ancient Yuletide carol"?  I've always heard it as
> > "trill."  Can
> > you cite a source for "troll" as a type of singing?
>
>OED2:
>
>IV. 10.    a. trans. To sing (something) in the manner of a round or
>catch; to sing in a full, rolling voice; to chant merrily or
>jovially. Const. forth, out. Cf. ROLL v.2 4b and TROLLY-LOLLY int.
>    Perh. originally fig. from 6 = to sing in succession, as a round
>or catch (each line being as it were passed on to the next singer).
>
>(with cites from the 16th century through 1977)
>
>1 google webhit for {"trill the ancient Yuletide"}, 3,590 for the
>version with "troll".
>
>arnold
>
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>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Wow.  Maybe I was reinterpreting "troll" all those years--or maybe I'm
misremembering now because I'd never actually analyzed the line.

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org