Counting tables are a deeply pagan invention. Our ancient ancestors believed that if we simply counted the trophies obtained during the hunt, then the next game hunt would not be successful. Therefore, all sorts of linguistic tricks were used: for example, words like “Eni-beni-slave” were considered non-existent.
In general, counting rhymes have been studied quite deeply by philologists and linguists. A detailed classification has been applied: what, where, why, for what reason, etc. I won't go into such details. But all this is not without reason and carries a deep meaning, just like the Russians folk tales, For example.
In addition to the purely utilitarian role of choosing a leader in the game, counting rhymes also have a lot of advantages of a purely psychological nature. At a minimum, they train their memory.
The youngest children learn to speak and count using counting rhymes.
Counting books give a child a correct understanding of justice: you got it, everything is fair, you have to drive, but arguing with this is stupid and not comradely. They teach reasonable obedience to rules for the sake of a common cause.
In addition, a simple touch to the chest, taken during the “calculation”, carries a deep psychotherapeutic meaning: it is like a sign of trust, a symbol of friendship, involvement in a small society.

I’m writing a post, my daughter (4 years old) comes up to me and tells me a little rhyme that I’m hearing for the first time:

The puppy was sitting on a bench
Counted my pins:
One, two, three -
You will be the queen!

Come on, if anyone remembers anything or hears anything from the children, write here if you’re not too lazy!
It will be cool to see how different the rhymes from different times are.

Well, I’ll write rhymes from the 80s and 90s (although maybe they existed before? Most likely):

On the golden porch sat:
Tsar—prince—king—prince,
Shoemaker-tailor
Who will you be?

Come out (speak)—quickly—don’t delay
Good—and honest (wise)—people!

A version of this rhyme from the 90s:

They sat on the golden porch,
Gummi bears, Tom and Jerry,
Scrooge McDuck and 3 ducklings,
come out you will be Ponca!

Sitting on the golden porch:
Winnie the Pooh and Tom and Jerry,
Mickey Mouse, three ducklings.
Come out, you'll be Ponca!
If Ponca doesn't come,
Scrooge McDuck will go crazy.

Other topic:

Aty-bats-went-soldiers,
Aty-baty-to-bazaar.
Did you—baht—bought what?
Aty-baty-samo-var.
How much does it cost?
Aty-baht-three-ruble
What are you-bats-he-what?
Aty-baht-gold-toy.

a hedgehog came out of the fog
drank half a glass of juice
looked—into an empty—glass
and—again—went—into the fog

Eniki—Benik—ate—dumplings
Eniki-Beniki-kletz!
A Soviet sailor came out.

Eniki—Benik—ate—dumplings,
Eniki-beniki-klos
A cheerful sailor came out.

Eniki-beniki-brooms-brooms!
Boliki—leliki—sawdust—rollers!

Here are some of my favorites:

The carriage drove through the dark forest
For some interest
Inte inte interest
Come out with the letter "es".

similar:

A cuckoo walked past the forest
For some interest.
Inti-inti-intires,
Choose the letter "s".
The letter "s" didn't fit
Choose the letter "a".

You remember such rhymes for the rest of your life)):

The month has emerged from the fog,
He took a knife out of his pocket:
I will cut, I will beat -
You won't live anyway!
(Or a softer version of “You still have to drive!”)

And by the way, it was invented quite recently and its meaning is very direct. This poem goes back to real story a certain Bandera member named Mesyats, who was fierce in Western Ukraine during the Great Patriotic War. The children reflected in their own way historical events and preserved them in people's memory in such an original way...

Well, in this counting rhyme you need to know the rhythm (tempo) with which to tell it. If you haven't heard it, it's hard to repeat it properly. It's not even clear how to place punctuation marks.

on balcony number 8 oh her we sat with my brother bones
ugh, you're a sin, what fun it was for us paririrors, they divided everything in half, really, yes, yes
repeat

we flew off the balcony oh she hit the young lady with her elbow
repeat

we got to the police, oh, they broke all the bars
repeat

we ended up in the hospital and they pressed the nurse at the door
repeat

we ended up at the cemetery and counted the dead
repeat paririroma everyone was divided in half the truth NO NO ahaaaaah

This is how I found it on the Internet, but this is how I remember it, my older sister told me about it:

on balcony number 8 - oh to her - we sat with the brother of bones,

We flew off the balcony - oh her, we hit the young lady with our elbow
Ugh, what a sin you are. We had fun tumba-oriram. They divided everything in half right? - yeah

We ended up in the police - oh my gosh - they broke all the bars
Ugh, what a sin you are. We had fun tumba-oriram. They divided everything in half right? - yeah

We ended up in the hospital - oh my gosh - the nurse was pressed at the door
Ugh, what a sin you are. We had fun tumba-oriram. They divided everything in half right? - yeah

We ended up at the cemetery - oh well - and we counted the dead
Ugh, what a sin you are. We had fun tumba-oriram. They divided everything in half right? - NO NO

although I still don’t remember all the words exactly...

One two—three—four—five,
The bunny went out for a walk,
Suddenly—the hunter—runs out,
Shoots straight at the hare
Bang-bang-oh-oh-oh
My little bunny is dying.
They brought—him—to the hospital,
He refused to undergo treatment,
brought—him—home,
It turned out that he was alive.

Ours—Masha
Got up early
All dolls
Re-counted:
Two matryoshka dolls
On the window,
Two—Arinka
On the feather bed,
Two—Tanyushka
On—the pillow,
A—Petrushka
In-cap
On oak
Sunduch!

The month has emerged from the fog,
He took the knife out of his pocket
I will cut, I will beat,
You still have to bare.
And behind the month is the moon.
The devil hanged the sorcerer.
And the sorcerer hung, hung
And flew into the trash heap.
And Boris lived in a garbage dump -
Chairman of dead rats.
And his wife - Larisa -
Wonderful rat.
He fell in love with someone else
He took an ax and hacked him to death.
But the wife did not die,
She took the money and left.
He fell in love with someone else
He took the perfume and gave it to her.

The ending is really kind of incoherent...

And a few more:

Do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si
The cat got into a taxi.
And the kittens clung
And we had a free ride.

Tsikal-tsikal, motorcycle,
All tracks were recycled
And he came to Leningrad,
Choose your outfit:
Red, blue, light blue -
Choose any one for yourself.

Helicopter, helicopter,
Take me on a flight.
And in flight it’s empty,
Cabbage has grown.
And there's a worm in the cabbage,
Vanya the Fool came out.

Aye, zwein,
Chukate me,
Abel - fabel,
De me ne.
X, pix,
Bullet - punch,
Naupux!

I know in another version:

Ecota Pekota Chukota Ma
Abul fabul del mana
Ex pex bullet pux naus - My daughter learned this with pleasure)) and taught others

Monkey Chi-chi-chi
sold bricks
didn't have time to sell
flew under the bed.
It's empty under the bed -
cabbage has grown
grapes on cabbage
it turned out to be an automatic machine .
(there is still a not quite decent option)

Eniki-beniki ate dumplings...
Draniki, dates, muffins and gingerbreads,
Donuts and buns, and all sorts of donuts,
Dumplings, cakes, pastilles and bars,
Peppers, salads, tomatoes, potatoes,
Cabbage, mustard, mushrooms and okroshka.
Radish, matzo, mayonnaise and cutlets,
Eggs, beets, bishbarmak and rolls.
Lard, peas, dill and cheesecakes,
Bananas, coconuts, carrots and parsley,
Butter, shish kebab, artichokes, brisket,
Onions, tomatoes, beans and tartines.
Pancakes, marmalade, cottage cheese, beer, stewed meat,
Coffee, cookies, sour cream, condensed milk,
Apples, fish, cocoa, solyanka,
Jelly, wild garlic, sausage, casserole.
Shrimp, lemons, nuts and plums,
Jam, black bread, white bread, gravy,
Sugar, lobster, liver, candy,
Cheese, vinegar, lobsters, wine, tea, pates,
Salt, chips, cakes, rice, chops,
Straws, cognac, jellied tongues,
Melons, fillets, pasties, splints,
Semolina, pearl barley, caviar, vinaigrettes,
Zrazy, sausages, garlic, entrecotes,
Horseradish, chocolate, pasta and sprats.
brawn, whiting, zucchini, zeppelin,
Peaches, sorrel, chickens and olives.
Kiwi, herring, pork, gooseberries,
Oysters, pumpkins, pomegranates, rose hips,
Cream, truffles, waffles, drying and rutabaga,
Lamb, croutons, currants, cranberries.
Crabs, compote, ham, cabbage rolls,
Kefir, mineral water and cucumbers,
Blueberries, puree, squash, strawberries,
Molasses, cracklings and strawberries,
Rhubarb, raisins, meatballs, halva,
Pilaf, chakhokhbili, spinach and quince,
Spaghetti, almonds, honey, dumplings, rump steaks,
Toasts, roast beef, beans and steaks...
We took a light bite and poured it again!
(With such a counting rhyme you will definitely train your memory))

Well, this is true, it’s not a counting rhyme, but it’s very popular among children, which is interesting for my generation and for my daughter too:

Make up, make up, make up,
and don't fight anymore.
And if you fight -
then I will bite,
and biting has nothing to do with it,
I (will) have to fight with a brick.
And the brick will break -
friendship begins.

Who knows what, join us!

Some information taken from the site

Introduction

The children's rhyme "eniki beniks ate dumplings" is referred to in many studies as a counting system.

From the Anglo-Welsh account

“Apparently, “ene, bene, slave, quinter, fint[er]” goes back to “aina, peina, para, peddera, pimp” of the so-called Anglo-Welsh score (in the original - “Anglo-Cymric Score”, then there is an “Anglo-Kimri twenty”)"

From the Latin account

“Most likely, the counting rhymes go back to one of the many types of hunting draws, sometimes associated with fortune telling (even - odd, “lucky - unlucky”), as well as with magic that was supposed to bring good luck in the hunt. Such draws included a recount of participants, sometimes with the distribution of roles or functions in a joint hunt. Counting words (names of numbers) were taboo among many peoples, which could be due to the belief in lucky and unlucky numbers, as well as in general with the mystery of numbers. Taboo counting words were deliberately distorted or replaced with meaningless consonances. sometimes with borrowed numerals, sometimes with completely abstruse gobbledygook. Contamination often occurred. different words and parts of words, therefore only etymological analysis helps to see the countable basis of such texts. For example, the beginning of the counting rhyme Eniki, beniki, res (known to everyone Eastern Slavs) contains modified Latin numerals unus, bini, tris (meaning “one”, “two”, “three” respectively)"

From a Yiddish account

“But here people say that eniki-beniki is exclusively from alef-bet (alef with the Russian suffix, so popular in Yiddish, -nik will be read as enik), especially with dumplings, which are associated with the Yiddish song “Varnickes”. But this is still fantasy."

From a German account

“The history of the origin of “eni-beni” or “eniki-beniki” (who ate dumplings in the famous poem) is generally mysterious. Back in the late 1970s, linguist V.E. Orel pointed out the similarity of “eniki-beniki” with the origins of German rhymes “Enige benige”, which we inherited from the Middle Ages. German knights pronounced similar texts when playing dice. According to the linguist, the origin goes back to the Middle High German phrase “Einec beinec doppelte”, which meant “The only dice doubled.” -beniki" migrated to neighboring Poland, and later moved further to the east."

From Kyrgyz

"Eniki-beniki ate dumplings"
Eneke - mommy, mother (Kyrgyzstan) > njanka - nanny (slav.) (skip n)
Bee - mare (Kyrgyzstan) > bee > kobila - mare (glorious) (omission k, replacement l/e)
Eli from el - people (Kyrgyzstan) > el > lud - people (Slavic) (inv. el, pass d)
Bar (Turkish var) - there is, there is (Kyrgyzstan) > bar > var - var, cook (Slavic), cook in order to “eat”, otherwise, verb. “there is, there is” has two meanings: existence and eating, eating (for existence); compare I am (Old Slav.) - I am (I eat); I am - I am (English) > ja em I eat (glory)

"Eniki-beniki ate dumplings - eneke bee eneke eli var eneke - mother and mare-mother of the people is mother. Eniki-beniki is a collective image of the Woman-Mother and the Mare-Mother, the ancient goddess of the Polovtsy-Tengrians."

There are several variants of the phraseological unit “eniki beniks ate dumplings”:

Option 1:

"Eniki, beniks ate dumplings,
Eniki, beniks ate dumplings,
Eniki, beniki, hop!
Green syrup came out.
Eni, beni, ricky, taki,
Turba, urba, synthbrucks,
Eus, beus, krasnobeus, Bang!"

Option 2:

"Eni, beni, ricky, after all,
Turba, urba, synthbrucks,
Eus, beus, krasnobeus,
Bam!

Eni, beni, ricky, faki,
Turba, urba, eki, faki,
Eus, beus, cosmobeus,
Bam!

Eni, beni, ricky, paki,
Glug-glug-glug, scribbles, shmaki,
Eus, beus, cosmobeus,
Bang!"

Eni, beni, ricky, faki,
Til, glug-glug, koriki, shvaki,
Deus, deus, cosmodeus
Bang!"

Option 3:

(known from my golden childhood)

"Eniki beniks ate dumplings,
eniki beniki kletz,

What is a dumpling? Of course, "dumplings" is a certain German version Ukrainian dumplings and Russian dumplings. Dumplings are pieces of dough cooked in boiling broth and milk. So, they ate either dumplings or dumplings. Perhaps the mystery is what they ate?
There is an interesting version of the word “beniki” - benka according to V. Dahl - a fork, that is, dumplings were eaten with a fork.

““Eniki-beniki ate dumplings”...

Who are Eniki?
Who are the beniks?
I asked about it
But no one gave an answer.
I dug through little by little
Dictionaries-piggy banks
And I found that the word “benki”
It's simple - forks.
Benki, or beniki,
The saying to them is eniki!
But a spoon can't
Eat okroshka yourself!
And bowls can't
Eat a bunch of radishes!..
Why beniki
What if they eat dumplings?
Because the word is
Outdated, no matter how sorry it is,
And one day from the buffet
Moved to the counting room.
And the counting is like this -
It's a word game
So, even beniki
They can eat dumplings!"

"BENECHKA? m. yarosl. fork. Benki m. m. fire. slingshots, forks, pitchforks, for feeding sheaves when laying stacks and when threshing." [SD]

And the word “eniki” is rather a distorted word “different”, “other”, “otherwise” (glory)
Then the counting table looks like this.

"Otherwise, the little ones ate dumplings,
Otherwise, benkami - dumplings,

"Otherwise, they ate dumplings with forks,
Otherwise, with forks - dumplings,
[A certain] sailor came out on deck" or

"Some ate dumplings with forks,
Other forks - dumplings,
[A certain] sailor came out on deck."

Comment:
The word "otherwise" is often used in ancient texts as an adversative conjunction in the function of enumeration. The last line of the counting rhyme is intended to rhyme.
The use of counting in the counting rhyme “eniki beniks ate vareniki” would be reliable if there were only the phrase “eniki beniks”, but it has the continuation “...ate vareniki”, which does not fall into the counting system, both English-Wallish and Yiddish, Latin, German, etc. Therefore, the version with “forks” is the most reliable. True, N.V. Gogol in the work “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka” Pot-bellied Patsyuk ate dumplings without a fork, but this is another topic for research.

Rice. 1. Patsyuk from the film “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”

It’s interesting that in V. Dahl’s dictionary “dumpling” is not only a lump of dough, but also a kind of children’s game, like a counting rhyme before “catching someone.”
"Dumpling, kolobok, a lump of unleavened dough, sometimes small, in a stew. | Dumpling is a plural children's game: they spit through their fingers; and whoever spits his finger is a dumpling, and catch the others. Dumpling, dumpling, related to dumplings. Kletschny , Kaluga, thick, like dough or thickly kneaded clay. Dumpling, throwing lumps of clay or mud at each other." [SD]
It is quite possible that the enumeration in the counting rhyme went up to the name “dumpling”. Here the enumeration seems to lull the game participants to sleep and suddenly the host suddenly exclaims “Dumpling!” and points his finger at the driver. For example:
"Some ate dumplings with forks,
Others with forks...dumpling!"

It is possible that “dumpling” is a “dirty lump”, “dirty one”, “pig”. Translated from Ukrainian, Patsyuk is a rat, a pig from the exclamation “Patz!”, calling a pig or “Bam!” as in option No. 1, 2.
It should be understood that children's counting rhymes are intended for choosing a game driver such as "tick" or "burner", "hide and hide" and are the threshold of this game. Therefore, in the counting game, it is not the score that is important, but some entertaining plot with a listing of objects, which can end with any player. For example:
"On the golden porch sat: the king, the prince, the king, the prince...".
“The month has emerged from the fog...”, etc.

Abbreviations

SPI - A Word about Igor's Campaign
PVL – Tale of Bygone Years
SD – dictionary of V. I. Dahl
SF - Vasmer's dictionary
SIS - dictionary of foreign words
TSE – explanatory dictionary Efremova
TSOSH - explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov, Shvedov
CRS – dictionary of Russian synonyms
BTSU - Ushakov’s large explanatory dictionary
SSIS - combined dictionary of foreign words
MAK - small academic dictionary of the Russian language
VP – Wikipedia
EBE - Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedia

1. etymology of “eniki beniks ate dumplings”, 2. etymology of “eniki beniks ate dumplings”, http://www.ruthenia.ru/folklore/troizkaya2.htm
3. eniki with dumplings, http://www.gramota.ru/forum/redaktor/22931/
4. eniki with dumplings, http://www.podrobnosti.ua/society/2004/07/06/131665.html
5. Eniki beniks ate dumplings, V. Timoshov, review of the article by L. Khristenko “The Toad Presses”
6. Eniki beniks ate dumplings...Tarabukin, http://wikilivres.ru/-..._()
7. V. N. Timofeev, article “Method of searching for Slavic roots in foreign words", http://www.tezan.ru/metod.htm

“Ene, bene, slave, kwinter, finter” - many see some distorted numerals in this little counting rhyme, but what kind? Efim Shchup unearthed an old English-language monograph dedicated to the nursery rhymes of the peoples of Europe, and found out the origin of the “eniki-beniki”!

Now there will be a little unveiling of a mystery that has periodically surfaced in the community since 2005. We'll talk about “ene, bene, slave, kwinter, finter” and “enikah-benikah”

It was repeatedly noted in discussions that these were, apparently, some kind of distorted numerals, but the original language could not be established. I came across an old English-language monograph on the Internet dedicated to the nursery rhymes of the peoples of Europe and their origins.

Bolton, speaking in last chapter about common origin European rhymes, refers to an even older article by a respected member of the British Philological Society, the author of which, Ellis, examines in detail the original source of the rhymes.

Apparently, “ene, bene, slave, quinter, fint[er]” goes back to the so-called Anglo-Welsh score (in the original - “Anglo-Cymric Score”, that is, “Anglo-Cymric twenty”)

What is Anglo-Welsh counting and why is it so little known? We are talking about a peculiar pidginized series of numerals used in barter transactions between persons of Celtic nationality and visiting Anglo-Saxons (as well as Danes, Norwegians and speakers of other, non-mutually intelligible Celtic languages)

More modern sources hypothesize that the Anglo-Welsh counting was not originally Anglo-Welsh, but served as the oldest unified set of numerals in the communication of the aboriginal Celtic peoples of the British Isles, in whose native languages ​​their own numerals began to sound too different over time due to noticeable phonetic shifts.

In his monograph, Bolton quotes Ellis, comparing one of the variants of English-Welsh counting, borrowed from his article, with modern Welsh numerals taken from the official grammar of the Welsh language of that time.

Here are the English-Welsh pidginized numerals: "aina, peina, para, peddera, pimp, ithy, mithy, owera, lowera"

And here are the numerals from the original language with recognizable Indo-European roots: "un, dau, tri, pedwar, pump, chwech, saith, wyth, naw"

If you look closely, a kind of “optimization” clearly appears in the English-Welsh counting - seven (mithy) is clearly secondarily formed from six (ithy) by simply adding a consonant, nine (lowera) is similarly secondarily formed from eight (owera). The five (pimp) and four (pedwar) clearly influenced the three (para) and two (peina) with their initial consonant [p], replacing their initial vowels by analogy with [p]. But "peina, para, peddera, pimp" it is much easier to remember as “pseudo-ablauted” forms of a certain paradigm, united by alliteration of the initial consonant.

Remember the Anglo-Saxons' love of alliteration in character names (Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and dozens of other, lesser-known characters whose parts of their names begin with the same consonant - this tradition is much older than the era of animation). Remember all these “gehen, ging, gegangen” and “do, did, done” Germanic languages- I think the mnemonic benefit of modification "peina, para, peddera, pimp" it will become clear immediately.

Despite all the dissimilarity between the numerals of the English-Welsh counting and the numerals of the Welsh language, the undoubted origin of the first from the second becomes clear if we look at the formation of the numerals from 15 to 19.

Anglo-Welsh: "bumfit, ain-a-bumfit, pein-a-bumfit, par-a-bumfit, pedder-a-bumfit"

Welsh: "pymtheg, un-ar-bymtheg, dau-ar-bymtheg, tri-ar-bymtheg, pedwar-ar-bymtheg"

The tradition of forming numerals after fifteen, unique to the Welsh language, as complex forms of the form “one-and-fifteen, two-and-fifteen” is fully preserved in English-Welsh counting, not to mention the numerals from 10 to 14:

Anglo-Welsh: "dig, ain-a-dig, pein-a-dig, par-a-dig, pedder-a-dig"

Welsh: "deg, un-ar-ddeg, denddeg, tri-ar-ddeg, pedwar-ar-ddeg"

Now let's look at the entire series of numerals:

Thus, we're talking about about the ancient counting rhyme, which grew on a very specific semantic soil and pursued a very specific pragmatic goal: to be remembered as easily as possible and, in the case of tense intercultural contacts, to ensure mutually understandable counting out loud when it came to the exchange of prisoners, trade in livestock, etc.

But the story was just beginning. The mysterious English-Welsh counting quickly spread throughout England, where even grandmothers used this “hairdryer” to count knots when knitting, shepherds to count sheep, and boys incorporated the gibberish that seemed funny to them into their own counting rhymes.

Later, “eine-beine-bara” penetrated the continent, where it was so popular with the cunning German scoundrels that it was remade an infinite number of times. The similarity of “eine-beine” with the saying of German dice players “einec beinec doppelte”, already discussed in the community, quickly led to the mutation of the incomprehensible English-Welsh “one-two” into “enige benige”, which is more meaningful to the German ear. Misheard lyrics, anyone?

Similarly, the apparent lack of semantic load in the remaining words of the rhyme led to the fact that the size of the verse and the alliteration formula were primarily borrowed, and the verbal content could range from the canonical “ene bene” to the improvised “rumpelti stumpelti” - which is the first and second according to the meaning (due to its absence) did not differ, and therefore they were synonyms!

Soon the infectious motif of the Anglo-Celtic rhyme spread throughout Europe, growing like a superstrate through the substrate of autochthonous (and worse remembered?) rhymes. Often gibberish interspersed with meaningful words in one language or another, but the situation was “corrected” as soon as children's creativity borrowed from a neighboring language.

For example, the German (dialect) rhyme

Enige, denige, Tintefass
Geh in die Schule und lerne was
Kommst du Heim und kannst du nichts
Kriegst de Buggel volle Wichts

When borrowed back into English it turned into

Inica, binica, tinske wos
Gayste hole and learnste wos
Conste, Hinan, conste, Nichs
Strixte bucle full of vicks

The process could be repeated cyclically, turn after turn, with the result that usually only “eniki-beniki” and one or two other words from the English-Welsh original survived. But various kinds of “pig Latin”, fragments of more ancient rhymes, sayings, jokes, and simply pure children’s improvisation multiplied within the framework of the original poetic formula.

Things got to the point where, through contacts with the first settlers, the English-Welsh account was adopted by the Indians North America who used it for its intended purpose (in transactions with whites and in counting booty in hunting and war). Over time, whites stopped using the Anglo-Welsh counting, forgetting about its origin, and the name “eniki-beniki” in America was assigned... “ Indian counting" The Indians denied their involvement in the invention of this counting, but continued to use it, gradually modifying slang numerals and inventing new counting options.

Notes

1. The degree of influence of the Anglo-Welsh counting on the content and form of continental counting rhymes is still a matter of debate. There is a point of view that in ancient times, counting rhymes performed an important ritual and practical role in society, and, following the principle of convergent evolution, independently arose and acquired a similar form in different nations. According to this hypothesis, the Anglo-Welsh counting, in essence and purpose differing little from any other counting rhyme, developed in a similar direction and only for this reason is so similar to the counting rhymes of other countries, but could not serve as a superstrate or prototype for them. A compromise hypothesis states that continental counting served as a convenient substrate for English-Welsh counting due to significant initial similarities with it for the reason described above, but still underwent significant assimilation in terms of content and specific word forms.

2. The popularity of Anglo-Welsh counting among that part of the British population that had no contact with the Celts can be explained by the Old Testament prohibition regarding counting people and animals and the superstition that stemmed from it. King David, having treacherously conducted a census of the ancient Israelites, by this very act indirectly doubted God’s promise to make the descendants of Abraham innumerable like the sand of the sea, and for educational purposes God sent a plague to the Jews. More prudent characters like Saul and Moses considered the Jews to be safe - collecting half a shekel from each and then counting the coins. Since biblical legends in the Middle Ages were projected by the people onto daily life, extrapolation of the legend about the census of the Israelites led to the emergence of superstitions when counting... domestic animals. If Christians could be counted by any means, then in the case of counting sheep, the shepherd resorted to protective rituals and incomprehensible, “wrong” words. The Anglo-Welsh counting turned out to be an ideal help for the English shepherds, earning the first grains of their popularity from this.

3. Wikipedia contains a whole article on the shepherd count in Britain with many tables.
Judging by the data given in the article, nowhere outside the Lakes District mentioned in Bolton’s monograph "aina, peina, para, peddera, pimp" was not used, which somewhat undermines the hypotheses stated above about the ancestral home of the Enik-Beniks. On the other hand, Wikipedia records evidence of even more liberal use of Celtic numerals in other areas of Britain: hovera, dovera, sethera, methera, petera, tethera, dora and laura clearly have no relation to any words of the Welsh language, being pure mnemonics.

We conclude: for the sake of ease of memorization and maintaining rhythm when counting, any awkward-sounding “authentic” word can be replaced by any arbitrarily fictitious one, as long as it sounds well on par with the others. This helps explain the presence in modern rhymes of both the quinter and the finter, and any other unidentifiable subject.

Since childhood, we remember this strange little rhyme: Eniki-beniki ate dumplings, Eniki-beniki ate dumplings, a drunken sailor came out on deck!
But we don’t even think about the meaning hidden behind these words. Meanwhile, the counting rhymes are the oldest species art and, often, carry secret and sacred knowledge. Linguists have been trying to unravel the message for many years. Here are three versions of the origin of the saying eniki-beniki.

One, two, three, four, five

One of the main ones is the version that the account is encrypted in eniki-beniki. Researcher Efim Shchup found that ene, bene, slave, kwinter, finter are close in sound to the numerals aina, peina, para, peddera, pimp. These numbers were used in the language of trade, which was invented by the Celts and the visiting Englishmen. However, it's not that simple...

Dice

According to linguist Orel, eniki-beniki came to us from the Middle Ages. They could have been invented by German knights, who, when playing dice, liked to say Einec beinec doppelte, which translated into Russian means the only bone doubled. Over time, this saying became Polish, and then moved further east.

There is another theory that sends us further into the past, to the mysterious Greek mythology. If you follow the version of mythological origin, rhymes like ene-bene, ricky-taki, bull-bul-bul, karaki-shmaki, eus-deus-kosmodeus, bam, grew out of a Greek poem telling the story of Aeneas. Hero Trojan War, who founded the city on the banks of the Tiber, was immortalized in this Latin poem:

Aeneas bene rem publicam facit,
In turbo urbem sene Tiberi jacit.
Deus, deus, crassus deus,
Bacchus!"
The children's world is mysterious and difficult to understand. How did a Latin poem or a saying of German knights form the basis of children's rhymes? How do they cross country borders? For now these are unanswered questions. All three versions seem quite tempting, but we still don’t know the final answer. What if there is something else hidden behind the nursery rhyme?

According to experts, for our children, funny rhymes and funny and even sometimes incomprehensible counting rhymes turn out to be the most wonderful teachers, speech therapists and psychologists. Without that one word game, which is contained in the counting rhymes, the child would have to learn to master speech perfectly for a very long time.

All versions of chants, counting rhymes, teasers, tongue twisters and other “literature” help children express their feelings, thoughts and experiences. These poems, such as “eniki-beniki ate dumplings” or the hedgehog-in-the-fog rhyme, are passed down from generation to generation without any memorization. Such a strange, but easy verse is remembered by the child on the fly, used in games with friends, all the children remember it and pass it on further and further.

A counting table is, first of all, a rhyming verse that can be used to easily determine who will lead the game. In addition to this simple function, this verse has three more psychologically important functions. First, it gives a feeling of luck; whoever it points to will be lucky.

The second function is that the counting rhyme allows you to demonstrate trust in each other. Typically, the counting player touches the players in the solar plexus area, and such a touch carries with it a level of affection and trust. Well, the third function allows you to configure children to fair play without deception, cultivates in them feelings of honesty and camaraderie.

Any counting rhyme, in addition to developing such necessary and useful feelings in a child, also allows him to train his speech. Such a game verse will be understandable and close to the child, because in any rhyme the first place is not the plot, but the rhythm and the ability to pronounce words separately, highlighting them. This way the baby will develop not only memory, imagination and fantasy, but also a sense of rhythm.

There are a huge number of examples of counting rhymes, and we present only the most popular of them.

Hush, mice, cat on the roof.
Those who didn't hear came out!

Across the river, across the bridge
Stretch the bull's tail!

We shared an orange
There are many of us, but he is alone.
This slice is for the hedgehog,
This slice is for the swift,
This slice is for ducklings
This slice is for kittens,
This slice is for the beaver,
And for the wolf - the peel.
He is angry with us - trouble!!!
Run away somewhere!

Lunokhod, Lunokhod,
Walking forward on the moon.
It will take him a long time to walk there.
Now you should drive!

Goat in the barn
Crust on bread
Who will find them?
He will lead the game.

The car was walking through a dark forest

For some interest.

Inte-inte-interest.

Exit on the letter "S".

The squirrel was riding on a cart,
I distributed nuts to everyone:
Some are two, some are three -
Get out of the circle!

Tomorrow it will fly from the sky
Blue-blue-blue whale.
If you believe, stop and wait,
If you don't believe me, come out!

About the origin

How often adults are surprised when they listen to the texts of children's rhymes. For example, it is completely unclear who “ene, bene, slave, kwinter, finter” and the like are and how they ended up in a children’s poem.

It turns out that this counting is very old and originally “ene, bene, slave, quinter, finter” came from the English-Welsh count, which sounded like “aina, peina, para, peddera, pimp”. Gradually, this English-Welsh counting spread throughout England, where they began to use it in everyday life, and children adapted the funny words spoken by adults to suit themselves and the funny text of the counting rhyme turned out.

The version of the song, where some eniki ate dumplings, is known to both adults and children. But there are also less common versions, in which the Eniki did not eat anything, but rather the counting itself is more similar to the original:

Eniki-beniki-brooms-brooms!
Rollers-rollers-sawdust-rollers!

Full version

Of course, no one can say with certainty what the original counting rhyme was, which was used by children for the first time. This is the so-called oral creativity", which was distributed without being recorded

There is one complete, Russian version, where the mysterious beniks ate varinichki:

Eniki-beniki ate dumplings

Eniki-beniki - dumplings!

A Soviet sailor came out.

And there is an even more incomprehensible, confusing and mysterious little counting rhyme, which is more similar to the original one that came to us from England through all of Europe.

Eni-beni-res
Quinter-winter-jes
Yene-bene-slave
Finter-quinter-toad.