"every since"

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 8/18/2012 1:18 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> ....
> Just heard Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" (mid-1960s) on the radio, and even though the lyrics as they appear on the web--
>
> I was born by the river in a little tent
> Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
> It's been a long, a long time coming
> But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will
>
> --specify the standard "ever since", the actual words sung are (as Wilson would predict) "every since".  I'd have been surprised if I hadn't been pre-apprised.
--

This "every [since]" = "ever [since]" appears in DARE:

v. 2, p. 318: <<*every* adv Also sp _ev'ry_ Cf *ever* adj / Ever -- used
in phr _every since_ ....>>. Citations from 1887 to 1975, southern and
other.

'Related':

v. 2, p. 315 [with map]: <<*ever* adj [prob abbr for _every_; but cf
_OED_ _ever_ adv. 4 "Ever where. _Obs._"] *widespread, but chiefly Sth,
S Midl, esp TX* See Map Cf _every_ adv / Every ....>>. Many citations
from 1838 to 1976.

-- Doug Wilson

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