"To Market, To Market" or "To Market, To Market, to Buy a Fat Pig" is a folk

nursery rhyme A nursery rhyme is a traditional poem or song for children in Britain and many other countries, but usage of the term dates only from the late 18th/early 19th century. The term Mother Goose rhymes is interchangeable with nursery rhymes. From t ...

which is based upon the traditional rural activity of going to a

market Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: *Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand *Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, an ...

fair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

where agricultural produce would be bought and sold. It has a

Roud Folk Song Index The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London ...

number of 19708.

Lyrics

The first complete recorded version of the rhyme appeared in 1805 in ''Songs for the Nursery'' as "To market, to market, to buy a penny bun," with no reference to a pig.I. Opie and P. Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'' New Edition (Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997), p. 352-353. A common variation in the present day is: :To market, to market, to buy a fat pig, :Home again, home again, jiggety-jig. :To market, to market, to buy a fat hog, :Home again, home again, jiggety-jog. :To market, to market to buy a plum cake, :Home again, home again, market is late. :To market, to market, to buy a plum bun, :Home again, home again, market is done. :To market, to market to buy a fat dog, :Home again, home again, jiggety jog. :To market, to market to buy a small chick, :Home again, home again, jiggety jig. There have been many variations such as this reworking: :To market, to market, to buy a fat pig! :Home with it! Home with it! Jiggety jig! :Stuff it till Christmas and make a fat hog, :Then at

Smithfield Show The Smithfield Show, formerly the Smithfield Club Cattle Show and later the Royal Smithfield Show, was an annual British agricultural show, organised by the Royal Smithfield Club. It was founded in 1799 and was first held at Wootton's Livery S ...

win a prize, jiggety jog!

Origins

The rhyme is first recorded in part in

John Florio Giovanni Florio (1552–1625), known as John Florio, was an English linguist, poet, writer, translator, lexicographer, and royal language tutor at the Court of James I. He is recognised as the most important Renaissance humanist in England. F ...

's, '' A Worlde of Wordes, or Most Copious, and exact Dictionarie in Italian and English'', published in 1598, which defines "Abomba" as "a man's home or resting place: home againe, home againe." The 1611 edition is even clearer, referring to "the place where children playing hide themselves ... Also as we used to say Home againe home againe, market is done." We do not have records again until the following version was printed in ''Songs for the Nursery'' (1805): :"To market, to market, to buy a penny bun, :Home again, home again, market is done

Derivatives

The phrase, "Home again, home again, jiggety-jig" is how J.F. Sebastian's Genetic engineering, genetically-engineered companions greet him in ''

Blade Runner ''Blade Runner'' is a 1982 science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott, and written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples. Starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, and Edward James Olmos, it is an adaptation of Philip K. Dick' ...

''.

Notes

{{reflist English folk songs English children's songs Traditional children's songs Songs about pigs Songs about consumerism English nursery rhymes Pigs in literature