Editing Humpty Dumpty (section)

{{Short description|Nursery rhyme character}}
{{About|the nursery rhyme||Humpty Dumpty (disambiguation)}}
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{{Infobox song
| name           = Humpty Dumpty
| cover          = Denslow's Humpty Dumpty 1904.jpg
| caption        = Illustration by [[William Wallace Denslow|W. W. Denslow]], 1904
| type           = nursery
| published      = 1797
}}

'''Humpty Dumpty''' is a character in an English [[nursery rhyme]], probably originally a [[riddle]], and is typically portrayed as an [[anthropomorphic]] [[egg]], though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from late eighteenth-century England and the tune from 1870 in [[James William Elliott]]'s ''National Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs''.<ref name="todayifoundout" /> Its origins are obscure, and several theories have been advanced to suggest original meanings. The rhyme is listed in the [[Roud Folk Song Index]] as No. 13026.

As a figure in nursery culture, the character appears under a variety of near-rhyming names, such as Lille Trille (Danish), Wirgele-Wargele (German), Hümpelken-Pümpelken (German) and Hobberti Bob ([[Pennsylvania Dutch]]).<ref>Iona and Peter Opie, ''The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes'', OUP 1997, pp. 254-5</ref> As a  
character and literary allusion, Humpty Dumpty was referred to in several works of literature and popular culture in the 19th century. [[Lewis Carroll]] in particular made him an animated egg in his 1871 book ''[[Through the Looking-Glass]]'', while in the United States the character was popularised by [[George L. Fox (clown)|George L. Fox]] as a clown of that name in the [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] [[pantomime]] musical ''Humpty Dumpty'' (1868).<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Humpty_Dumpty/wE9HAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=pantomime+%22Humpty+Dumpty%22&pg=PT2&printsec=frontcover ''Humpty Dumpty''], [[Olympic Theatre (New York City)|Olympic Theatre]] brochure, 1868</ref>