Eeny meeny
miney mo
Posted by Kai
Lung on February 04, 2003 My father, who is something of a
classical scholar, taught me that the verse was originally medieval and Scottish.
The verse is supposedly a kind of exorcism that has been garbled in translation,
like "Hoc est corpus meum" became "hocus pocus".
His explanation seems much
more rational than any that I have seen on this forum or elsewhere, but I am having
trouble finding etymological references for it and would be grateful for any assistance.
The
racial term that seems to be present predated slavery and originally meant the
"black one" or the Devil.
Here's the explanation he gave me:
First line
----------
"Eeny
meeny miney mo"
Inimicus animo is Latin for "enemy of the spirit".
Second
line
-----------
"Catch the nigger by the toe"
Use of "the" this reinforces
the concept that this refers to the Devil. It is further reinforced in that many
variants use the term devil.
Third line
----------
"If he hollers let
him go"
This is the key line. If you catch or pinch a human toe, they will
feel it and protest, but the Devil has a cloven hoof and therefore has no sensation
in the toe. If the person tested cries out in pain it suggests that they are not
the Devil and you should release them.
As a racial slur the line is meaningless
which helps to make the case that the origin is earlier and was not pejorative
(except to the Devil, perhaps).
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