What does the nursy rhmy ring around the rosie mean?

Answer 1

A rather far-fetched interpretation of this piece has had would-be origin- finders speculating that it is based on the Great Plague of London (1665), as witness the rash ("roses"), herbs and spices to sweeten the air ("posies"), sneezing, and implicit dying ("all fall down"). But the time-lapse between the plague and the appearance of the game, diminishes that theory. Satires are almost always written about then-current events. Also heard is the theory that children sang this during the catastrophic European Black Death (1347), the "ring" supposedly referring to the red spot that marked the onset of the disease, and the rest following the same allegations heard for the plague theory, which is the one most often repeated.
It was orginally

Ring-a-ring o' roses,

A pocket full of posies,

Ashes! Ashes!

We all fall down