A-Hunting We Will Go

"A-Hunting We Will Go" is a popular folk song and nursery rhyme composed in 1777 by English composer Thomas Arne.^[1] Arne had composed the song for a 1777 production of The Beggar's Opera in London.^[2]

The a- is an archaic intensifying prefix; compare "Here We Come A-wassailing/Here We Come A-caroling" and lyrics to "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (e.g., “Six geese a-laying”).^{[citation needed]}