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"Fee-fi-fo-fum" is the first line of a historical quatrain (or sometimes couplet) famous for its use in the classic English fairy tale ''Jack and the Beanstalk''. The poem, as given in Joseph Jacobs's 1890 rendition, is as follows:
Though the rhyme is tetrametric, it follows no consistent metrical foot; however, the respective verses correspond roughly to monosyllabic tetrameter, dactylic tetrameter, trochaic tetrameter, and iambic tetrameter. The poem has historically made use of assonant half rhyme. ==Origin== The rhyme appears in ''Haue with You to Saffron-Walden'' published in 1596 and written by Thomas Nashe (who mentions that the rhyme was already old and its origins obscure): In William Shakespeare's play ''King Lear'' (c. 1605),〔 the character of Edgar exclaims:
The verse in ''King Lear'' makes use of the archaic word "fie", used to express disapproval. This word is used repeatedly in Shakespeare's works, King Lear himself shouting, "Fie, fie, fie! pah, pah!" and the character of Mark Antony (in ''Antony and Cleopatra'') simply exclaiming "O fie, fie, fie!" The word "fum" has sometimes been interpreted as "fume".〔 Formations such as "fo" and "foh" are perhaps related to the expression "pooh!", which is used by one of the giants in ''Jack the Giant-Killer'';〔 such conjectures largely indicate that the phrase is of imitative origin, rooted in the sounds of flustering and anger. The earliest known printed version of the Jack the Giant-Killer tale appears in ''The history of Jack and the Giants'' (Newcastle, 1711) and this,〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Arthuriad )〕 and later versions (found in chapbooks), include renditions of the poem, recited by the giant Thunderdell:
Charles Mackay, proposes in ''The Gaelic Etymology of the Languages of Western Europe'' that the seemingly meaningless string of syllables "Fa fe fi fo fum" is actually a coherent phrase of ancient Gaelic, and that the complete quatrain covertly expresses the Celts' cultural detestation of the invading Angles and Saxons: * ''Fa'' from ''faich'' (fa!) "behold!" or "see!" * ''Fe'' from ''Fiadh'' (fee-a) "food"; * ''Fi'' from ''fiú'' "good to eat" * ''Fo'' from ''fogh'' (fó) "sufficient" and * ''Fum'' from ''feum'' "hunger". Thus "Fa fe fi fo fum!" becomes "Behold food, good to eat, sufficient for my hunger!" 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fee-fi-fo-fum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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