The Farmer in the Dell
The farmer in the dell,
The farmer in the dell,
hi-ho the derry-o, the farmer in the dell
farmer: n
1. a person who farms; person who operates a farm or cultivates land.
2. an unsophisticated person from a rural area; yokel.
dell: n.
A small, secluded, wooded area
Since this nursery rhyme has been written many different ways, its words could actually have several different meanings. hi-ho, with no particular meaning, could also be heigh-ho (like the seven dwarves’ heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go) as an expression of greeting (such as variations used by Orson Scott Card) to convey weariness and boredom or, alternately, exultation.
Now, about Derry:
Derry mostly likely refers to the Derry county in the northwest area of Northern Ireland
Derry County in Ireland
but it could also refer to the farmer being a dairy farmer. Or an intentional play on both words.
Cows in a dell
cattle in a dell
