Haggard Hawks and Paltry Poltroons: The Origins of English in Ten Words by Paul Anthony Jones

Author:Paul Anthony Jones [Jones, Paul Anthony]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Arts & Disciplines, Humanities, Humour, Language, Linguistics, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9781472109415
Google: 2R2eBAAAQBAJ
Amazon: B00OGUP7TY
Publisher: Constable
Published: 2013-10-16T23:00:00+00:00

3. HARLEQUIN

First recorded in English in 1590, Harlequin was one of the stock characters of English pantomime who was adopted from French comic theatre and the popular commedia dell’arte of Italy in the sixteenth century. In English theatrical tradition, Harlequin is usually depicted as a clown or mime, armed with a wooden sword or wand, and dressed in a ludicrously garish costume – indeed, the word harlequin has been used as an adjective meaning ‘variegated’ or ‘multi-coloured’ since the eighteenth century.

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