| "Ring a Ring o' Roses" | |
|---|---|
 Melodies for "Ring a Ring o' Roses", Alice Gomme, 1898.[1] | |
| Nursery rhyme | |
| Published | 1881 |
| Audio samples
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"Ring a Ring o' Roses", "Ring a Ring o' Rosie", or (in the United States) "Ring Around the Rosie", is a nursery rhyme, folk song and playground singing game. Descriptions first emerge in the mid-19th century, but are reported as dating from decades before, and similar rhymes are known from across Europe, with various lyrics. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 7925.
The origin of the song is unknown. There is no evidence for the popular 20th-century interpretation which relates it to the Great Plague, or earlier outbreaks of bubonic plague, in England.
- ^ Gomme, The Traditional Games of England, Scotland, and Ireland, p. 108.