fidèle diddle p323 conteyning 0486414752 15am roud humorists fiddle calore hathor satirised fuld lamentable montgomerie folksong tisket tasket pussy caldecott redbreast miny mirth anthropomorphized opie rhyme meeny eeny radioed frère
hey diddle diddle the cat had a fiddle
Hey Diddle Diddle - wikipedia Hey Diddle Diddle Jump to : navigation , search For other uses , see Hey Diddle Diddle ( disambiguation ) . <Th_colspan="2"> `` Hey Diddle Diddle '' <Td_colspan="2"> Illustration by William Wallace Denslow <Th_colspan="2"> Nursery rhyme Published c. 1765 Songwriter ( s ) Unknown In this Randolph Caldecott rendition , a dish , spoon , and other utensils are anthropomorphized while a cat in a red jacket holds a fiddle in the manner of a string bass . `` Hey Diddle Diddle '' ( also `` Hi Diddle Diddle '' , `` The Cat and the Fiddle '' , or `` The Pig Jumped Over the Moon '' ) is an English nursery rhyme . It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 19478 . Contents ( hide ) 1 Lyrics 2 Origins 3 Meaning 4 Melody 5 In popular culture 6 Notes Lyrics ( edit ) A common modern version of the rhyme is : Hey Diddle Diddle , The cat and the fiddle , The cow jumped over the moon . The little dog laughed , To see such sport , And the dish ran away with the spoon . The rhyme is the source of the English expression `` over the moon '' , meaning `` delighted , thrilled , extremely happy '' . Origins ( edit ) The rhyme may date back to at least the sixteenth century . Some references suggest it dates back in some form a thousand or more years : in early medieval illuminated manuscripts a cat playing a fiddle was a popular image . There is a reference in Thomas Preston 's play A lamentable tragedy mixed ful of pleasant mirth , conteyning the life of Cambises King of Percia , printed in 1569 that may refer to the rhyme : They be at hand Sir with stick and fiddle ; They can play a new dance called hey - diddle - diddle . Another possible reference is in Alexander Montgomerie 's The Cherry and the Slae from 10 : 15am Yesterday : But since you think 't an easy thing To mount above the moon , Of your own fiddle take a spring And dance when you have done . The name `` Cat and the Fiddle '' was a common name for inns , including one known to have been at Old Chaunge , London by 1587 . The earliest recorded version of the poem resembling the modern form was printed around 1765 in London in Mother Goose 's Melody with the lyrics : Hey diddle diddle , The Cat and the Fiddle , The Cow jump 'd over the Moon , The little dog laugh 'd to see such Craft , And the Fork ran away with the Spoon . Meaning ( edit ) There are numerous theories about the origin of the rhyme , including : James Orchard Halliwell 's suggestion that it was a corruption of ancient Greek , probably advanced as a result of a deliberate hoax ; that it was connected with Hathor worship ; that it refers to various constellations ( Taurus , Canis Minor , etc . ) ; that it describes the Flight from Egypt ; that it depicts Elizabeth , Lady Katherine Grey , and her relationships with the earls of Hertford and Leicester ; that it deals with anti-clerical feeling over injunctions by Catholic priests for harder work ; that it describes Katherine of Aragon ( Katherine la Fidèle ) ; Catherine , the wife of Peter the Great ; Canton de Fidèle , a supposed governor of Calais and the game of cat ( trap - ball ) . This profusion of unsupported explanations was satirised by J.R.R. Tolkien in his fictional explanations of ' The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late ' . Most scholarly commentators consider these to be unproven and state that the verse is probably meant to be simply nonsense . Melody ( edit ) The melody commonly associated with the rhyme was first recorded by the composer and nursery rhyme collector James William Elliott in his National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs ( 1870 ) . In popular culture ( edit ) There are several variants of the following joke : A pilot returning from a mission could not locate his aircraft carrier and in addition failed to establish secure communication . So he circled around the formation and radioed : `` Rub - a-dub - dub , where is my tub ? '' And received : `` Hey Diddle Diddle ! Right here in the middle ! '' Some memoirs claim it was a real incident . Notes ( edit ) Jump up ^ `` Roud Folksong Index S298441 Sing hey , diddle ' diddle , the cat and the fiddle '' . Vaughan Williams Memorial Library . English Folk Dance and Song Society . Retrieved May 20 , 2016 . ^ Jump up to : I. Opie and P. Opie , The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes ( Oxford University Press , 1951 , 2nd edn. , 1997 ) , pp. 203 -- 4 . Jump up ^ Julia Cresswell , Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins ( 2010 , ISBN 0199547939 ) , page 279 , entry moon Jump up ^ `` Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts '' ( Penguin Random House , 2016 , 1st ed ) , Christopher de Hamel , p323 ^ Jump up to : C.R. Wilson and M. Calore , Music in Shakespeare : a Dictionary ( London : Continuum , 2005 ) , ISBN 0826478468 , p. 171 . Jump up ^ S.H. Gale , Encyclopedia of British Humorists : Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese ( London : Taylor & Francis , 1996 ) , p. 1127 . Jump up ^ J.J. Fuld , The Book of World - Famous Music : Classical , Popular , and Folk ( Courier Dover Publications , 5th edn. , 2000 ) , ISBN 0486414752 , p. 502 . Jump up ^ The Escort Carriers In Action : The Story , In Pictures , Of The Escort Carrier Force , US Pacific Fleet , 1945 ( public domain archive ) <Th_colspan="3"> ( hide ) Nursery rhymes ( list ) <Td_colspan="2"> `` A-Tisket , A-Tasket '' `` Baa , Baa , Black Sheep '' `` Did You Ever See a Lassie ? '' `` Happy Birthday to You '' `` Hey Diddle Diddle '' `` Hickory Dickory Dock '' `` Hot Cross Buns '' `` Humpty Dumpty '' `` I 'm a Little Teapot '' `` It 's Raining , It 's Pouring '' `` Jack and Jill '' `` Little Bo Peep '' `` Little Boy Blue '' `` Little Jack Horner '' `` Little Miss Muffet '' `` Mary Had a Little Lamb '' `` Mary , Mary , Quite Contrary '' `` Old King Cole '' `` Old MacDonald Had a Farm '' `` Old Mother Hubbard '' `` Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe '' `` Peter Piper '' `` Polly Put the Kettle On '' `` Poor Mary '' `` Pop Goes the Weasel '' `` Pussy Cat Pussy Cat '' `` Rain Rain Go Away '' `` Roses Are Red '' `` Rub - a-dub - dub '' `` Simple Simon '' `` Sticks and Stones '' `` The Grand Old Duke of York '' `` The Queen of Hearts '' `` Twinkle , Twinkle , Little Star '' Clapping `` A Sailor Went to Sea '' `` Down Down Baby '' `` Mary Mack '' `` Miss Susie '' `` Miss Lucy '' `` Pat - a-cake '' `` Pretty Little Dutch Girl '' `` Pease Porridge Hot '' Counting `` Duck , duck , goose '' `` Eeny , meeny , miny , moe '' `` One , Two , Buckle My Shoe '' `` One , Two , Three , Four , Five '' `` This Old Man '' `` Tinker , Tailor '' Finger - plays `` Five Little Monkeys '' `` Five Little Ducks '' `` Five Little Speckled Frogs '' `` Itsy Bitsy Spider '' `` Little Robin Redbreast '' `` Round and Round the Garden '' `` This Little Piggy '' `` Two Little Dickie Birds '' Games `` London Bridge '' `` The Muffin Man '' `` Mulberry Bush '' `` Oranges and Lemons '' `` Ring a Ring o ' Roses '' `` The Farmer in the Dell '' Riddle `` As I was going to St Ives '' Lullabies `` Hush , Little Baby '' `` Rock - a-bye Baby '' Rounds `` Ding Dong Bell '' `` Frère Jacques '' `` Kookaburra '' `` Row , Row , Row Your Boat '' `` Scotland 's Burning '' `` Three Blind Mice '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hey_Diddle_Diddle&oldid=832392229 '' Categories : English nursery rhymes Cats in literature Dogs in literature Cattle in literature Roud Folk Song Index songs Year of song unknown Songwriter unknown Talk Contents About Wikipedia Wikisource Français Edit links This page was last edited on 25 March 2018 , at 18 : 41 . 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