You've probably chanted it while bouncing a toddler on your knee. To market to market to buy a fat pig, then home again, home again, jiggity-jig. It’s rhythmic. It’s short. Honestly, it’s a bit weird if you actually stop to think about the logistics of hauling livestock home on a whim. But that’s the thing about nursery rhymes; they aren’t just random jingles for kids. They are historical fossils.
Most of us don't even question the "jiggity-jig" part. We just say it because our parents said it, and their parents said it before them. This rhyme has survived for centuries not because it’s a masterpiece of literature, but because it taps into a very specific, very human beat. It reflects a world where the market wasn't a fluorescent-lit grocery store with self-checkout kiosks, but the literal heartbeat of the community.
Where did to market to market actually come from?
History is messy. People want a single "Aha!" moment where a specific poet sat down and wrote this, but that’s rarely how folklore works. The earliest recorded version of the to market to market rhyme shows up in a mid-16th-century manuscript. We’re talking about the Douce MS 357, which dates back to around 1550.
Think about that for a second.
When this rhyme was first being whispered in English nurseries, Elizabeth I wasn't even on the throne yet. The world was muddy, loud, and centered entirely on local trade. In those early versions, the lyrics weren't always about a "fat pig." Sometimes it was a "penny bun" or a "fat hog." The core idea remained: you go out to get something essential (or a treat), and then you hurry back.
The "jiggity-jig" part is actually a bit of a linguistic marvel. It’s what linguists call onomatopoeic reduplication. It mimics the uneven, bumpy gait of a horse or a cart traveling over rutted, unpaved roads. If you’ve ever sat in a wagon or on a pony, you know that rhythm. It isn't a smooth "vroom." It’s a series of jolts. The rhyme captures the physical sensation of 16th-century travel in two silly-sounding words.
The variations you didn’t learn in preschool
While the "fat pig" version is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the nursery, the rhyme has legs—literally. In the 1800s, James Orchard Halliwell, a guy who basically obsessed over collecting these "nursery histories," documented several different endings.
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One version goes:
To market, to market, to buy a fat hog;
Home again, home again, joggety-jog.
To market, to market, to buy a fat bun;
Home again, home again, market is done.
There is a subtle shift in energy there. Buying a hog is a major financial and physical undertaking. It’s a "joggety-jog" pace—heavy, deliberate. Buying a bun? That’s a quick trip. The market is done. You’re finished.
It’s also worth noting that the "jiggity-jig" phrasing didn't become the "standard" until much later. Language evolves. We keep the words that feel the best in our mouths. "Jiggity-jig" has a percussive quality that "joggety-jog" just can't match.
Why we can't stop singing it
Why do these rhymes stick? It’s not just nostalgia. There is actual cognitive science behind why a rhyme like to market to market is a powerhouse for child development.
First, there’s the meter. It’s usually performed in trochaic or dactylic patterns, which feel natural to the English language. When a parent bounces a child in time with the words, they are engaging in "multimodal learning." The child feels the beat in their joints (proprioception), hears the phonemes in their ears, and sees the parent's facial expressions. It’s a full-body workout for a developing brain.
Secondly, it teaches the concept of "return."
Home.
Market.
Home again.
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For a small child, the idea that someone leaves and then comes back is a foundational psychological milestone. It’s the same reason "Peek-a-boo" is a global phenomenon. It builds a sense of security. The rhyme promises that no matter how far you go to find that fat pig or that penny bun, the destination is always back where you started.
The "dark" meanings that probably aren't real
If you hang out on certain corners of the internet long enough, you’ll find people claiming that every nursery rhyme is secretly about the Black Plague or a royal execution. Ring Around the Rosie is the usual victim of this, despite historians repeatedly debunking the plague connection (the symptoms don't even match).
With to market to market, the "dark" theories are thankfully thin. Some try to link it to the fluctuations of the livestock market or the "pork cycle" in economics, but honestly? Sometimes a pig is just a pig. In the 1500s, buying a pig was a huge deal. It was food security for a winter. It was a sign of a successful trip. There’s no need to invent a secret political assassination plot to explain why someone would be happy to bring a fat pig home.
The simplicity is the point.
The cultural footprint of jiggity-jig
You see this rhyme everywhere. It’s in Mother Goose collections, obviously. But it’s also in The Tale of Little Pig Robinson by Beatrix Potter. Potter, who was a stickler for rural realism and local color, understood that this rhyme was part of the DNA of the English countryside.
Even modern media can't escape it. You’ll hear characters in movies say "jiggity-jig" as a shorthand for "let’s get going" or "mission accomplished." It has transitioned from a literal description of a cart ride to a linguistic idiom for efficiency.
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What we get wrong about nursery rhymes
We often treat these verses as "nonsense." That’s a mistake. They are some of the only surviving records of how "regular" people—not kings, not bishops, but common folks—spoke and thought centuries ago.
When you say to market to market, you are using a grammatical structure that has largely disappeared from modern conversational English. Nobody says "to market" as a standalone verb-phrase anymore; we’d say "I’m going to the market." The rhyme preserves an older, leaner version of our language. It’s a tiny time machine hidden in your vocal cords.
Practical ways to use this rhyme today
If you’re a parent, caregiver, or just someone interested in the mechanics of language, don't just recite it. Use it as a tool.
- Vary the pace. Start slow and heavy (the "fat hog" version) and then go fast and light (the "penny bun" version). This helps kids distinguish between different rhythmic structures.
- Change the nouns. Let the kid choose what they’re buying. To market, to market, to buy a... dinosaur? A taco? It keeps the rhyme alive and encourages creative word play.
- Physicalize it. If you aren't doing the knee-bounce, you’re missing half the fun. The "jiggity-jig" should be the climax of the movement.
The market has changed. We use apps now. We get groceries delivered to our porches by people we never see. The "market" is a digital cloud of data and logistics. But the basic human impulse—the need to go out, get what we need, and return safely to our "home again"—hasn't changed since 1550.
That is why the rhyme stays. It’s about the cycle of the day. It’s about the relief of being finished with a chore. And mostly, it’s about the rhythmic joy of just being home.
Next Steps for Exploration
To truly appreciate the evolution of these oral traditions, look into the Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes by Iona and Peter Opie. They spent decades tracking down the specific dates and regional variations of rhymes just like this one. You can also visit local historical museums that feature 16th-century domestic life; seeing the actual size of a "penny bun" or the height of a Tudor-era cart puts the "jiggity-jig" into a whole new perspective. Don't just read the words—look for the history hiding between the lines.