"Frère Jacques" (, ), also known in English as "Brother John", is a nursery rhyme of French origin. The rhyme is traditionally sung in a round. The song is about a friar who has overslept and is urged to wake up and sound the bell for the matins, the midnight or very early morning prayers for which a monk would be expected to wake. Lyrics Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous? Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines! Din, din, don. Din, din, don. English translation Brother Jacques, Brother Jacques, Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Ring/Sound [the bells for] matins! Ring [the bells for] matins! Ding, dong, dong. Ding, dong, dong. Traditional English lyrics Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping? Brother John, Brother John, Morning bells are ringing! Morning bells are ringing! Ding, dong, dong. Ding, dong, dong. The song concerns a monk's duty to ring the bell for . Frère Jacques has apparently overslept, it is time to ring the bells for matins, and someone wakes him up with this song. The traditional English translation preserves the scansion, but alters the meaning such that Brother John is being awakened by the bells. In English, the word friar is derived from the Old French word (Modern French ; "brother" in English), as French was still widely used in official circles in England during the 13th century when the four great orders of Friars started. The French word frère in turn comes from the Latin word (which also means "brother"). The French name Jacques would not ordinarily be translated to "John", which is "Jean" in French. The name Jacques, instead, corresponds to the English names James or Jacob, which derive from the Latin Iacobus and the Greek Ἰακώβος (Septuagintal Greek Ἰακώβ), referring to the Biblical Patriarch Jacob and the apostles known in English as James. Theories of origin A possible connection between "Frère Jacques" and the 17th century lithotomist Frère Jacques Beaulieu (also known as Frère Jacques Baulot), as claimed by Irvine Loudon and many others, was explored by J. P. Ganem and C. C. Carson without finding any evidence for a connection. Francesca Draughon and Raymond Knapp argue that "Frère Jacques" was originally a song to taunt Jews or Protestants or Martin Luther. Martine David and A. Marie Delrieu suggest that "Frère Jacques" might have been created to mock the Dominican friars, known in France as the Jacobin order, for