Why 'in a pear-tree?'

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Feb 11 - 11:50 PM

Q, thank you for the information about the broadside. It was neat to see an old edition of the song.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: GUEST,Roly Scales
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 01:29 PM

There are many traditional versions in France. I have a copy of a field recording of a one variant from Moncoutant, Deux-Sèvres, Western France. It begins:

Au premier mois de l'année,
Que donn'rai-je à ma mie?
Une perdriole, qui va, qui vient, qui vole,
Une perdriole qui vole dans les bois.

Au deuxième mois de l'année
Que donn'rai-je à ma mie?
Deux tourterelles,
Une perdriole, qui va, qui vient, qui vole,
Une perdriole qui vole dans les bois.

A partridge, which comes, which goes, which flies, which flies in the woods.
The song progresses through two turtle doves, three wood pigeons, four flying ducks, five rabbits scratching the earth, six hares in the field, seven dogs running, eight white sheep, nine milch cows, ten oxen in the meadow, eleven fine lads and twelve lovely fair maidens.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Joe_F
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 06:37 PM

Does "papingo-aye" really mean a peacock? It's not in the OED. I would have guessed, from the German "papagei" & the Spanish "papagayo", that it meant a parrot.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: MMario
Date: 22 Dec 14 - 09:27 PM

I believe the belief is now that the English version descended from the french versions; among other things evidently the English version is suppossed to predate patridges in England.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 11:00 AM

We used to have a somewhat eccentric music teacher in Liverpool who insisted that the books all got it wrong and it should be "fir" tree - so that's the way our class learned it.
I was always rather taken with the "perdrix" explanation
Jim Carroll
"Twelve days of Christmas" was adapted from similar New Years' or spring French carols, of which at least three are known, all featuring a partridge, perdriz or perdriole, as the first gift. The pear tree appears in only the English version, but this could also indicate a French origin. According to Iona and Peter Opie, the red-legged (or French) partridge perches in trees more frequently than the native common (or grey) partridge and was not successfully introduced into England until about 1770. Cecil Sharp observed that "from the constancy in English, French, and Languedoc versions of the 'merry little partridge,' I suspect that 'pear-tree' is really perdrix (Old French pertriz) carried into England"; and "juniper tree" in some English versions may have been "joli perdrix," [pretty partridge]. Sharp also suggests the adjective "French" in "three French hens", probably simply means "foreign".

In the northern counties of England, the song was often called the "Ten Days of Christmas", as there were only ten gifts. It was also known in Somerset, Dorsetshire, and elsewhere in England. The kinds of gifts vary in a number of the versions, some of them becoming alliterative tongue-twisters. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" was also widely popular in the United States and Canada. It is mentioned in the section on "Chain Songs" in Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (Indiana University Studies, Vol. 5, 1935), p. 416.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 01:47 PM

Joe, this is completely off the top of my head but was not another name for a dandy or gaudily-dressed individual of Shakespeare's time a poppin-jay? Which surely must accord with 'papingo-aye' so parrot or peacock would fit the bill.

I'm more convinced by the French connection. Why would a cage become a tree? A pear-shaped cage yes, perhaps even with something resembling a tree branch inside it. Could it be possible that it became known as a pear tree because of the song?

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 03:30 PM

Wikipedia says popinjay=parrot. Fair enough.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 03:42 PM

Slight thread drift, but as the origin of the word 'parrot' is unknown
I've often wondered if somehow it derived from the older word 'pyot' the northern name for a magpie. The magpie does not have bright gaudy colours but it does have a striking plumage and is of a similar size to a parrot. Popinjay of course is obvious, the jay being somewhat gaudy in colour.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 04:23 PM

Q dates the Angus printing 1774-1825. Looking at the condition of my copy I would say about 1810. It is very clearly/neatly printed but uses the old seraph s which was beginning to die out about 1800. If the pear tree cages were 'Victorian' then the song must predate the use of the cages, hence my theory above. You now need an antiques expert to take this further.

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 23 Dec 14 - 04:42 PM

Parrot
From the wonderful, 'The Insect that Stolr Butter - Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins
Jim Carroll

parrot [E16th] The original English term for a parrot was popinjay. This came from French papingay which came, via Spanish, from Arabic babbaga, which may have been formed in imitation of the bird's cry. The ending of the French word was altered to resemble the name of the bird, the jay. The change to a term for a conceited, vain person came in the early 16th century. The origin of the word parrot may lie in the tendency to give pet birds human names. The word, recorded in the early 16th century, could represent French Pierrot, a pet form of Pierre 'Peter'. People often address a pet bird as 'Pretty Polly', and the name Polly has been used to mean 'a parrot' since the early 19th century, while Poll is first recorded as a parrot's name in 1600.
The word parakeet (M16th) may be a similar formation based on the Spanish given name Pedro, also 'Peter'. Alternatively it may have come via Italian from a word meaning Tittle wig', referring to the bird's head plumage. See also moon

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: GUEST,hsuclarklarry
Date: 15 Mar 19 - 05:04 PM

I think the words would be "a partridge est une perdrix."

Subject: RE: Why 'in a pear-tree?'
From: Mr Red
Date: 16 Mar 19 - 03:09 AM

IMNSHO as having written and studied songs and poetry I would say the alliteration of Partridge and pear is a strong indication of deliberate choice.

As to why not plum, well it doesn't trip off the tongue as fluidly as pear. The flow of the R into T is easier to say and more importantly sing with decreasing breath in what is, lets face it, a tour de force as the song nears its end.

Small difference, you say. But small difference mount up, like the song. The song owes its longevity, in part, to these little observances.