Akka bakka bonka rakka is a Norwegian nursery rhyme of mostly nonsense words used to select or point out a participant in children's games, such as who will be "it" in a game like hide-and-seek (no|gjemsel) or tag (no|sisten).[1] [2]
It is classified as a counting rhyme in Nora Kobberstad's Norsk Lekebok (Book of Norwegian Games) from 1901.[3]
There are different versions of the rhyme. The following version was recorded in Elverum in the early 1920s by Sigurd Nergaard:[4]
Akka bakka,
banka ranka,
etla metla, sang dang,
fil i fang, isa, bisa, topp!
In 1936, it was included in a collection of children's rhymes published by Rikka Deinboll:[5]
Akka bakka bonka rakka
etla metla sjong dong
fili fong
issa bissa topp
Finn Myrvang reproduced it in 1964 in a version from Andøya:[6]
Akka bakka bonka rakka, issa bissa topp.
Sjong dong filifong, stékk om stein - stå!
A later version, published by the Children's Book Club (Bokklubbens barn), has the following form:[7]
Akka bakka
bonka rakka,
etla metla
sjong dong,
filifjong
issa bissa topp