- Baa, Baa, Black Sheep
Baa Baa Black Sheep is a
nursery rhyme , sung to a variant of the 1761 French melody "Ah! vous dirai-je, Maman". The original form of the tune is used forTwinkle Twinkle Little Star and theAlphabet song .tandard version
:Baa, baa, black sheep,:Have you any
wool ?:Yes sir, yes sir,:Three bags full.:One for the master,:One for the dame,:And one for the little boy:Who lives down the lane.
Variants
In "Mother Goose's Melody" (circa 1765) the last lines run::But none for the little boy:Who cries in the lane. [Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes]
An old variant of the ending runs::Two for the master,:one for the dame,:but none for the little boy:who lives down the lane.or similar. [See [http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/4560-Anonymous-British-Bah--Bah--Black-Sheep entry at OldPoetry.com] ] This was the variant of the lyrics until 1765, when it changed to the current version, thought to be more suitable for young children. The old version referred to
Edward I 's wool tax, which he imposed in 1272 to fund his crusades. A third of the price of wool went to the king (the master), a third to the monasteries (the dame), and none for the shepherds (the little boy). [cite news .|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1045841/Why-does-weasel-pop---secret-meaning-best-loved-nursery-rhymes.html |publisher=Daily Mail |last=Collcutt |first=Deborah |title=Why does the weasel go pop? - the secret meaning of our best-loved nursery rhymes |date=2008-08-16 |accessdate=2008-08-16]Reference in linguistics
The term 'Baa Baa Black Sheep
dialect ' has also been used informally in linguistics to describe varieties of English (such asBritish English ) that allow thesyntax "Have you any wool?" compared to others (such asAmerican English ) that prefer "Do you have any wool?" with theauxiliary verb 'do'. [For example, Radford, Andrew, "Syntactic Theory and the Structure of English: A Minimalist Approach" pages 235 – 259 talks of 'Baa Baa Black Sheep varieties of English' Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0521477077.] In the question 'Have you any wool?' the verb 'have' appears as a transitive verb with the sense of possession, however it also appears to behave like an auxiliary in the sense that it undergoes syntactic inversion. [Radford, op. cit. page 235]In other languages
Swedish version
The nursery rhyme is very common in
Sweden .:Bää bää, vita lamm:Har du någon ull?:Ja, ja kära barn, jag har säcken full
:Heldagsrock åt far, :och söndagskjol åt mor:Och två par strumpor åt lille, lillebror
Originally, translated from English by
August Strindberg , this rhyme started with 'Bää bää, Svarta får' ('black sheep'), butAlice Tegnér changed it to 'vita lamm' ('white lamb').Translated into English the Swedish rhyme reads::Baa, baa white lamb:Have you any wool?:Yes, yes dear child, I have the whole bag full
:A holiday-robe for father, :and a Sunday-skirt for mother:And two pairs of socks for the little, little brother.
Dutch version
The Dutch version of this common nursery rhyme goes::Schaapje, schaapje, heb je witte wol?:Ja baas, ja baas, drie zakken vol.:Eén voor de meester en één voor zijn vrouw.:Eén voor het kindje, dat bibbert van de kou.
The English translation would be::Little sheep, little sheep, do you have white wool?:Yes boss, Yes boss, three bags full.:One for the master, one for his wife.:One for the little child, that shivers from the cold.
Norwegian version
The Norwegian Bokmål version goes::Bæ, bæ, lille lam, har du noe ull? :Ja, ja, kjære barn, jeg har kroppen full. :Søndagsklær til far, og søndagsklær til mor :og to par strømper til bittelillebror.
The English translation would be::Baa baa little lamb, have you any wool?:Yes, yes, dear child, my body's full.:Sunday's trousers for the father, Sunday's trousers for the mother:And a pair of socks for the wee little brother.
References
* Opie, Iona and Peter, "The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes", Oxford University Press, 1951.
Footnotes
See also
*
Nursery rhymes External links
* [http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/lyrics/blacksh.htm Rhyme and music]
* [http://nurseryrhymes.allinfoabout.com/Baa_baa_black_sheep.html The origin of the nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep]
* [http://www.famousquotes.me.uk/nursery_rhymes/nursery_rhymes_index.htm The Origins of Nursery Rhymes]
* [http://www.kidsbuilder.com/SingAlongForKids/BaaBaaBlackSheep.html Baa Baa Black Sheep at KidsBuilder.com w/music]
* [http://www.rhymes.org.uk/baa_baa_black_sheep.htm History and Origin of Mother Goose's Ba Ba Black Sheep rhyme]
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