Editing Hey Diddle Diddle (section)

==Meaning==
The numerous theories seeking to explain the rhyme have been largely discredited. [[James Orchard Halliwell]]'s suggestion that it was a corruption of an ancient Greek chorus was probably passed to him as a hoax by [[George Burges]].<ref name=Opie1997/><ref name=Halliwell1849>{{cite book|author=James Orchard Halliwell|author-link= James Halliwell-Phillipps|title=Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales: A Sequel to the Nursery Rhymes of England|date=1849|edition=4th|page=270|publisher= John Russell Smith<!-- |isbn=9780598936196  (invented by Google) -->|url=https://archive.org/details/popularrhymesnur00hallrich/page/n287/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

Another theory is that it comes from a low Dutch [[anti-clerical]] rhyme about priests demanding hard work.<ref name=Opie1997/><ref name=Ker1837> {{cite book|author=Bellenden Ker|author-link=John Bellenden Ker|title=Archaeology of Popular Phrases and Nursery Rhymes|volume=I|edition=2nd|date=1837|page=252|url=https://archive.org/details/essayonarchaeolo00kerjuoft/page/n269/mode/2up|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref><ref name=Croker1850>{{cite book|author=[[Thomas Crofton Croker]]|title=Recollections of Old Christmas: a Masque|date=1850|page=ii|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VbJUrJKWNOYC&q=low+dutch}}</ref> Other alleged bases for the rhyme include the Egyptian goddess [[Hathor]], the Hebrew [[The Exodus|Flight from Egypt]], or even the relationships of Elizabeth, [[Lady Katherine Grey]], with the Earls of [[Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford|Hertford]] and [[Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester|Leicester]].{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} The "cat and the fiddle" has also been tied to [[Catherine of Aragon]], [[Catherine I of Russia]], Canton de Fidèle, an alleged governor of [[Calais]], and the game of cat ([[trap-ball]]).<ref name=Opie1997/> An apparently modern theory is that it may refer to the [[constellation]]s of [[Leo (constellation)|Leo]] the cat, [[Lyra]] the fiddle, [[Taurus (constellation)|Taurus]] the cow, [[Canis Minor]] the little dog, and [[Ursa Major]] and [[Ursa Minor]] the Big and Little Dippers, which align with the Moon around the [[winter solstice]].<ref>{{citation|title=Hey Diddle Riddle|url=https://dcwalley.com/hey-diddle-riddle|website=dcwalley.com}}</ref>

The profusion of unsupported explanations was satirised by [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] in his fictional explanations of the poem "[[The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late]]" referenced above.<ref>Steven H. Gale, ''Encyclopedia of British Humorists: Geoffrey Chaucer to John Cleese'' (London: Taylor & Francis, 1996), p. 1127.</ref> Although there is some support for the trap-ball theory, scholarly commentators mostly conclude the rhyme is simply meant to be [[nonsense verse]], a type of [[literary nonsense]].<ref name=Opie1997/><ref name=Croker1850/>