2007-01-17 14:12:09 · 5 answers · asked by T.J. 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
Humpty Dumpty is a character in a Mother Goose rhyme, portrayed as an anthropomorphized egg. Most English-speaking children are familiar with the rhyme.
That Humpty Dumpty is an egg is not actually stated in the rhyme. In its first printed form, in 1810, it is a riddle, and exploits for misdirection the fact that "humpty dumpty" was 18th-Century reduplicative slang for a short, clumsy person. Whereas a clumsy person falling off a wall would not be irreparably damaged, an egg would be. The rhyme is no longer posed as a riddle, since the answer is now so well known. Similar riddles have been recorded by folklorists in other languages, such as Boule Boule in French, or Lille Trille in Swedish; though none is as widely known as Humpty Dumpty is in English.
Go to the link for "Origins".
2007-01-17 14:22:07 · answer #1 · answered by Joe Schmo from Kokomo 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Humpty Dumpty is a character in a Mother Goose rhyme, portrayed as an anthropomorphized egg. Most English-speaking children are familiar with the rhyme: 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. That Humpty Dumpty is an egg is not actually stated in the rhyme. In its first printed form, in 1810, it is a riddle, and exploits for misdirection the fact that "humpty dumpty" was 18th-Century reduplicative slang for a short, clumsy person. Whereas a clumsy person falling off a wall would not be irreparably damaged, an egg would be. The rhyme is no longer posed as a riddle, since the answer is now so well known. Similar riddles have been recorded by folklorists in other languages, such as Boule Boule in French, or Lille Trille in Swedish; though none is as widely known as Humpty Dumpty is in English.
2016-05-24 02:06:39 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Humpty Dumpty - Like Goosey Goosey Gander - is about the English Civil War and the execution of Charles I
2007-01-17 16:47:56 · answer #3 · answered by Tirant 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Over thinking the ryme makes me think of the Holy Roman Empire at nearly any time, and all of Europe during and after the Reformation. Europe was on its high moral wall and fell down, breaking so irrevocalby that no army (all the kings horses and men) could ever unite it.(put humpty together again)
2007-01-17 14:32:31 · answer #4 · answered by 29 characters to work with...... 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
who knows but dont waste ur time thinking about that p.s grow up
2007-01-17 14:18:34 · answer #5 · answered by chelsea c 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋