Where do nursery rhymes come from? Humpty Dumpty

By Linda Jones

DID he really fall and was he really an egg?

The answer to both these questions is 'not likely!'

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

The term Humpty Dumpty used to be a term for someone who is overweight. Later, around the 18th century, we are told it was used to describe someone who was ham-fisted or clumsy.

A Humpty Dumpty was also a concoction of boiled brandy and ale mixed together.

A Humpty Dumpty character appeared in Alice Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

But according the the Rhymes website, the Humpty of the nursery rhyme fame, was in fact a cannon used in the English civil war.

I never knew that!

I thought he really was an egg...

Here's a detailed explanation.

The following, alternative wording, is included in an informative post from Associated Content:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Threescore men and threescore more
Could not place Humpty as he was before.

Picture shows cover of a 1904 adaptation of Humpty Dumpty by William Wallace Denslow, shared through Creative Commons Licence.

Previous posts: Where do nursery rhymes come from?

Ring O' Roses

London's Burning

Comments

[discount soccer jerseys]

Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your rss feed and I hope you write again soon!