Were exactly in the Nursery Rhyme does it say that Humpty Dumpty was an egg?

Answer 1

*recites poem in head*
Oh, my god, it doesn't!!

Answer 2

The fact 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

Answer 3

I did some extensive research on this, drawing on many rare and obscure sources.

Most of the primary sources were pre-Victorian ( 17th and 18th century ) and it appears that the reason for the exclusion of the specific line that describes him was the moral censorship of the time.

Here is the actual ORIGINAL children's rhyme before it was censored:

"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.
He sure was a dumbass egg, wasn't he?
I mean, why would a stupid egg sit on a wall?"

The Victorians were really uptight people.

I hope this helps . . .

Answer 4

The fact 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 & Norwegian; though none is as widely known as Humpty Dumpty is in English.

Answer 5

Originally, it was told as a riddle, and the question at the end was 'who was Humpty Dumpty?'... to which the answer was 'an egg'... so from the start, it was known he was an egg, but gradually, it stopped being told as a riddle, and became more purely a rhyme for entertainment, although the image of Humpty as an egg remained... and that's the true image for the original verse :)

Answer 6

Who was Humpty Dumpty?
Humpty Dumpty was a colloquial term used in 15th century England to describe someone who was fat or obese - giving rise to lots of theories pertaining to the identity of Humpty Dumpty. However, in this case the question should be not Who was Humpty Dumpty but What was Humpty Dumpty? Humpty Dumpty was in fact an unusually large canon which was mounted on the protective wall of "St. Mary's Wall Church" in Colchester, England. It was intended to protect the Parliamentarian stronghold of Colchester which was in the temporarily in control of the Royalists during the period of English history, described as the English Civil War ( 1642 - 1649). A shot from a Parliamentary canon succeeded in damaging the wall underneath Humpty Dumpty causing the canon to fall to the ground. The Royalists 'all the King's men' attempted to raise Humpty Dumpty on to another part of the wall but even with the help of ' all the King's horses' failed in their task and Colchester fell to the Parliamentarians after a siege lasting eleven weeks.

Maybe the cannon looked like an egg?? How would I KNOW?? I wasn't even born yet!!

Answer 7

It doesn't but in illustrations they have drawn him as an egg because an egg can break easily as did Humpty Dumpty.

Answer 8

It doesn't say it,but all of the pictures you see of Humpty Dumpty he's a egg.

Answer 9

I actually that Humpty Dumpty was a cannon set on a high battlement and fell during a siege

Answer 10

I dont think it does I think it's just understood that humpty dumpty is an egg

Answer 11

Funny, but it doesn't. I guess the pictures make us think he is. He could be a man for all we know. Think about t. If a man falls off a wall, he will have some things that will be broken. Now, how can a horse put anything back together? That is just silly! As for the king's men, it never says there was a Doctor there.