Rub - a-dub - dub - wikipedia Rub - a-dub - dub This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( November 2015 ) `` Rub - A-Dub - Dub '' Nursery rhyme Published 1798 `` Rub - A-Dub - Dub '' is an English language nursery rhyme first published at the end of the eighteenth century in volume two of Hook 's Christmas Box under the title `` Dub a dub dub '' rather than `` Rub a dub dub ''. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3101. Lyrics This rhyme exists in many variations. Among those current today is : Rub - a-dub - dub, Three men in a tub, And who do you think they be ? The butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, And all of them out to sea Origins and meaning The earliest versions of this rhyme published differ significantly in their wording. Dating back to the 14th century, the original rhyme makes reference to maids in a tub. One early recorded version in Christmas Box, published in London in 1798, has wording similar to that in Mother Goose 's Quarto or Melodies Complete, published in Boston, Massachusetts around 1825. The latter ran : Hey ! rub - a-dub, ho ! rub - a-dub, three maids in a tub, And who do you think were there ? The butcher, the baker, the candlestick - maker, And all of them gone to the fair. This led Iona and Peter Opie to conclude that they were three respectable townsfolk `` watching a dubious sideshow at a local fair ''. In the original version as it appeared both in England and in the USA ( Boston ) the song was talking about three maids instead of three men. Later research, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes ( 1951 ) suggests that the lyrics are illustrating a scene of three reputable men watching on the sly a less decent moment. By around 1830 the reference to maids was being removed from the versions printed in nursery books. In 1842 James Orchard Halliwell collected the following version : Rub a dub dub, Three fools in a tub, And who do you think they be ? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick maker. Turn them out, knaves all three. References Jump up ^ Schubertiade Music : volume two of Hook 's Christmas Box Jump up ^ Chris Roberts, Librarian at Lambeth College, London ; interviewed on NPR in 2005, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5038237 ^ Jump up to : I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes ( Oxford University Press, 1951, 2nd edn., 1997 ), p. 447. Nursery rhymes ( list ) `` A-Tisket, A-Tasket '' `` Baa, Baa, Black Sheep '' `` Did You Ever See a Lassie ? '' `` Hey Diddle Diddle '' `` Hickory Dickory Dock '' `` Hot Cross Buns '' `` Humpty Dumpty '' `` I 'm a Little Teapot '' `` It 's Raining, It 's Pouring '' `` Jack and Jill '' `` Little Bo Peep '' `` Little Boy Blue '' `` Little Miss Muffet '' `` Mary Had a Little Lamb '' `` Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary '' `` Old King Cole '' `` Old MacDonald Had a Farm '' `` Old Mother Hubbard '' `` Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe '' `` Peter Piper '' `` Polly Put the Kettle On '' `` Poor Mary '' `` Pop Goes the Weasel '' `` Pussy Cat Pussy Cat '' `` Rain Rain Go Away '' `` Roses Are Red '' `` Rub - a-dub - dub '' `` Simple Simon '' `` Sticks and Stones '' `` The Grand Old Duke of York '' `` The Queen of Hearts '' `` Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star '' `` Two Little Dickie Birds '' Clapping `` A Sailor Went to Sea '' `` Down Down Baby '' `` Mary Mack '' `` Miss Susie '' `` Miss Lucy '' `` Pat - a-cake '' `` Pretty Little Dutch Girl '' `` Pease Porridge Hot '' Counting `` Duck, duck, goose '' `` Eeny, meeny, miny, moe '' `` One, Two, Buckle My Shoe '' `` One, Two, Three, Four, Five '' `` This Old Man '' `` Tinker, Tailor '' Finger - plays `` Five Little Monkeys '' `` Itsy Bitsy Spider '' `` Little Robin Redbreast '' `` Round and round the garden '' `` This Little Piggy '' Games `` London Bridge '' `` The Muffin Man '' `` Mulberry Bush '' `` Oranges and Lemons '' `` Ring a Ring o ' Roses '' `` The Farmer in the Dell '' Riddle `` As I was going to St Ives '' Lullabies `` Hush, Little Baby '' `` Rock - a-bye Baby '' Rounds `` Ding Dong Bell '' `` Frère Jacques '' `` Kookaburra '' `` Row, Row, Row Your Boat '' `` Scotland 's Burning '' `` Three Blind Mice '' Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rub-a-dub-dub&oldid=805369819 '' Categories : Roud Folk Song Index songs English nursery rhymes Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from November 2015 All articles needing additional references Talk About Wikipedia Add links This page was last edited on 14 October 2017, at 22 : 43. About Wikipedia

Question: where did rub a dub dub come from
Answer: English language nursery rhyme