Īnother possibility is that British colonials returning from India introduced a doggerel version of an Indian children's rhyme used in the game of carom billiards:īaji neki baji thou, elim tilim latim gou. One theory about the origins of the rhyme is that it is descended from Old English or Welsh counting, similar to the old shepherd's count " Yan Tan Tethera" or the Cornish "Eena, mena, mona, mite". Ī Cornish version collected in 1882 runs:Įna, mena, mona, mite, Bascalora, bora, bite, Hugga, bucca, bau, Eggs, butter, cheese, bread. This was one of many variants of "counting out rhymes" collected by Bolton in 1888. Variations of this rhyme, with the nonsense/counting first line have been collected since the 1820s, such as this one, which includes the 'toe' and 'olla' from Kipling's version:Įenie, Meenie, Tipsy, toe Olla bolla Domino, Okka, Pokka dominocha, Hy! Pon! Tush! Bolton also found a similar rhyme in German:Įne, tene, mone, mei, Pastor, lone, bone, strei, Ene, fune, herke, berke, Wer? Wie? Wo? Was? Henry Carrington Bolton discovered this version to be in the US, Ireland and Scotland in the 1880s but was unknown in England until later in the century. Hana, man, mona, mike Barcelona, bona, strike Hare, ware, frown, vanac Harrico, warico, we wo, wac. The first record of a similar rhyme, called the "Hana, man," is from about 1815, when children in New York City are said to have repeated the rhyme:
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