Who said fee fi fo fum

Viewed k times. Fee-fi-fo-fum; I smell the blood of an Englishman. Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread. Joseph Jacobs , Jack and the Beanstalk I've read about the origin of 'Fee-fi-fo-fum' but what does it actually mean? Improve this question. Community Bot 1. It sounds like a conjugation. What language does this giant speak? If so, what does the Americanised giant say?

I smell Yankee! It's also a hip-hop dance song by Candy Girls, wherein it's used as nonsense rhythm, almost a placeholder. FumbleFingers: of course we do. I should have put a smiley beside my comment. Peter Shor: Doh! I'm a bit slow sometimes. But it did seem at least feasible there might be an American version, since I discovered here on ELU that you guys have your own "version" of the Harry Potter books.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. Loquacity Loquacity 1, 14 14 silver badges 13 13 bronze badges. Wikipedia covers the meaning well and has this to say about Jack the Giant Killer : Neither Jack or his tale are referenced in English literature prior to the eighteenth century, and his story did not appear in print until The article goes on to explain: The verse in King Lear makes use of the archaic word "fie", used to express disapproval.

English dramatist Thomas Nashe in wrote in Have With You to Saffron-Walden the passage: O, tis a precious apothegmaticall Pedant, who will finde matter inough to dilate a whole daye of the first inuention of Fy, fa, fum, I smell the bloud of an Englishman … So it seems that writers have puzzled over the origins of this chant and what it means for over four centuries! MetaEd Beth S Beth S 99 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge.

Be he live or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make me bread. Let us know about any sayings of giants you might know in other languages. Please email them to me. The illustration comes from the story of Jack and the Beanstalk in The National Nursery Book , as does the specific wording of the first saying above.

I remember it as "Fee, fi, fo, fum". Shakespeare used a variation on it in his King Lear play. It was said by Edgar, son of Gloucester, in Act 3, scene 4: Fie, foh, and fum! I smell the blood of a British man.

Thanks to Holly for sharing this rhyme! Our books feature songs in the original languages, with translations into English. Many include beautiful illustrations, commentary by ordinary people, and links to recordings, videos, and sheet music.

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Apart from when quoting Shakespeare or Jack the Giant Killer, there's little reason ever to use it. As with many early English expressions the spelling is arbitrary and there are many variants in print:. Fee, fa, foh, fum Fee, fi, fum Fie, fih, foh, fum Fee, fa, fum and so on. It is best known from the English fable - Jack the Giant Killer, which was first published in , although the elements of the story were undoubtedly repeated verbally long before then:.