Joe: "The nuns in grade school said that "hocus-pocus" was derived from "hoc est corpus" (full phrase is hoc est enim corpus meum), but I haven't seen any documentation other than the words of Sister Mary So-and-So. Can't say I'm ready to believe it's the source for "hokey-pokey," either. Maybe so, maybe not - but I'd like to see documentation

Maybe it's, ahem... 'Tongan.'

"Hokee Pokee wang-kee fum,
Puttee po pee kaihula cum
Tong-o-ree, wong-o-ree, ching-ring-wum,
        The king of the Cannibal Islands."

Chorus to King of the Cannibal Islands Hodgson's Songster, 1838.