Harlequin is the name of one of the best known of the servant characters (zanni) from the Italian commedia dell'arte[1].

Originally Arlecchino in Italian, becoming Arlequin in French, Harlequin in English, Harlekijn or Arlekyn in Dutch and Harlekyn in Afrikaans.

Based on Harlekijn in Dutch it is the source of the noun harlekyn, meaning "clown", in Afrikaans (Alternative Afrikaans words for clown are hanswors, nar and paljas).

Harlequin the character

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commedia_dell%27arte

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequinade

Harlequinades and pantomimes containing the name

The name also occurs as, and in, the title of plays and performances, often referred to as "harlequinades"[2].

Click on the appropriate title below to go to the particular entry:

Harlequin - the pantomime

Harlequin and Mother Goose, or The Golden Egg

Harlequinesque Pantomime

Oud tot Jong Gemaald, of De Krommesprongen van Harlequin

Par a Par, a Gar a Nous, or Harlequin Protected by the Magician

Harlequin Pantomime

Robinson Crusoe, or Harlequin Friday

Three Witches, or Harlequin Reanimated

Harlequin and the Magic Donkey

Harlequin ABC.

Arlequin Afficheur

Arlequin, of De Gelukkige Visscher

Arlequin Protégé par Belphégor

Arlekyn Savoyard

Brief van die Harlekyn

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequin

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlequinade

Harlequin the pantomime

Harlequin is the name given to a pantomimic work by an unknown author performed in Cape Town in the mid 19th century. Nothing more is known of the original text or the performance.

Performances in South Africa

1847: According to F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p. 434) a "laughing pantomime[3]" simply called Harlequin (sic) was performed in Buitekant Street, Cape Town by The Italian Circus of Signor Severo and Signor Dalle Case. Nothing more is known about it.