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This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): WillFri.
Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT ( talk) 23:05, 16 January 2022 (UTC)
Great work clarifying the sources and information. I wonder if you could add under The Name all of the different spellings and uses of the name and where it is derived from. I noticed some on there, but I know there are a few more you can mention! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lestone1 ( talk • contribs) 22:17, 4 December 2016 (UTC)
Paul, was this you?
- Ben 15:43, 25 February 2002 User:Benwbrum
The Harlequin link needs to be a disambiguation page between various uses, such as:
14:50, 5 March 2004 User:Bovlb
Moved. WhiteNight T | @ | C 23:28, 28 December 2005 (UTC)
I can understand why the Italian and French words for harlequin are listed (as the English word comes from the Italian through the French) but why the German and Portuguese words? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.175.83.141 ( talk) 03:20, 11 December 2006 (UTC).
Sorry, not too good at posting on Wikipedia and actually just have a question which is kind of related to this - in Dr. W. Wagner's "Asgard & The Gods" he mentions that the Norse goddess, Hel, was reputed as appearing thus: "One side of her face was of corpse-like pallor, and the other was as dark as the grave" (p. 53) Also, he cites that part of the "Raging Host" (associated with concept of the "Wild Hunt") was called, in France, "Mesnie Hellequin" for hunters from hell(p. 78). Anyway, not sure how well Dr. Wagner's study has stood the test of time (he wrote this late 19th century) and whether his scholarship has been refuted or not, but wanted to know if this should be mentioned somewhere if it's true. 69.140.36.222AJ
"In today's culture, harlequins are seen quite often, especially in the New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations. Harlequins frequently appear in pop culture, such as Harley Quinn from the Batman series and Harle from Square Enix's game Chrono Cross."
"In the comic book version representing Batman and the Justice League (either together or seperately), a female assistant wearing a jester costume is sometimes given to the Joker. She is known as Harley Quinn."
I think this needs to be fixed, but I am not sure which one to delete/edit. —Preceding unsigned comment added by RoyalFool ( talk • contribs) 23:31, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
Okay, I think this page maybe needs to be completely rewritten. The current version of the page is nothing but a list of pop culture references and has completely deleted all references to the characters origin and function in the commedia dell'arte, which I would daresay are kind of important, especially since all the other major commedia characters have their own pages describing their uses, histories and characterizations. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.18.93.72 ( talk) 01:59, 26 March 2008 (UTC)
I came here looking for information about Harlequin. What is the main traits of this character that pops up everywhere, where does he come from (cinema? folklore? books? theater?) and WHY O WHY does he have those weird clothes? . . This page gave me the answer that he is from "the Italian Commedia dell'Arte" and nothing else was answered here. . . (Yes a clicktrough to the Commedia dell'Arte page gives me some more info but that info should be on THIS page instead!. This page totally needs a revamp with more info. 83.249.226.186 ( talk) 17:01, 18 August 2008 (UTC)
Someone decided it was a good idea to destroy previous work on the article, leaving only references to modern culture (a collection of trivia). I found the last version before the vandalism, which is [2]. Using this version, I will restore the deleted content. Maybe some of that content is wrong, but the deletion was certainly vandalism. Therefore I am reverting it.-- FocalPoint ( talk) 18:50, 20 March 2009 (UTC)
all this throwing around of unreferenced "hypotheses" needs to stop. The only verifiable pedigree of the name is Old French Hellequin, leader of the medieval French version of the Wild Hunt. The etymology of Hellequin (variants Helething, Herlequin) itself is another question. I have seen both "hari+thing" (!, so in Schmitt 1999, p. 100) and OHG (H)ellechin(n)o "little devil". More references on this are needed.
I also have serious doubts that English Herla derives from the Old English period. It is infinitely more likely that Herla king is just the 11th or 12th century Anglo-Norman corruption of OF Hellequin. -- dab (𒁳) 17:50, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
I propose that Hellequin be merged into Harlequin. I think that the content in the Hellequin article can easily be explained in the context of Harlequin, and the Harlequin article is of a reasonable size in which the merging of Hellequin will not cause any problems as far as article size or undue weight is concerned. It should also be an chance to add references about Hellequin Bikepunk2 ( talk) 14:24, 16 June 2011 (UTC)
I encourage you to just do it, at least in obvious cases like this one. Merging substubs into their main articles is standard maintenance work, not something that should be "proposed" or "discussed", simply because there is no conceivable reason to object: whoever is opposed to such mergers places the burden on themselves to expand the stub so it can stand on its own. -- dab (𒁳) 08:04, 17 June 2011 (UTC)
This does not read well. Many errors, generally consistent with the bad habits of Eastern European non-native English speakers, e.g., omitted indefinite articles abound.
The entry really just needs a rewrite, with special attention paid to its focus and the relevance of its parts. e.g. in "Others attribute the name to Dante's Inferno, XXI, XXII and XXIII; one of the devils in Hell having the name Alichino," is it really necessary to cite each chapter in which the character Alichino appears? Does anyone actually attribute the name 'harlequin' this way, "see Dante, chapter XXI & XXII & &XXIII"? I have to believe they don't. They attribute it to Dante simply, or else they cite its first appearance in Dante, and leave it go.
Examples of the idiocy:
Idries Shah has claimed that Harlequin be of Sufi origins
Shah argues that the Arabic name aghlaq - which was given to such sufi masters - with plural form "aghlaqueen" pronounced with the guttural gh- as the Spanish jota, would have given the word Harlequin. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.78.131.123 ( talk) 10:30, 15 October 2012 (UTC)
As far as I can tell this article should have nothing to do with Francis of Assisi, so why is there a picture of his jacket? Just something I noticed. I'd remove it if I could remember my login credentials and I'm not a big fan of anonymous removal of content.-- 66.252.70.130 ( talk) 13:50, 3 September 2013 (UTC)
Looks like some editor is trying to link Harlequin with Sufism. They are using obscure references such as St Francis' clothes. Likely no point fighting this one.... 50.80.153.173 ( talk) 02:04, 18 December 2013 (UTC)
It becomes even more simple if one simply consults literature by actual historians, esp. on history of comedy. It turns out it is known that the name Arlequin was picked by the actor Tristano Martinelli of Bergamo for his zanno character. He went on to become extremely successful in Paris, and a favourite of the French king, giving immortality to the character he created. He took the name explictly from the "popular French devil" because a resemblance to his own character. By the time of Martinelli's death in 1630, the Arlequin character had become stock and continued to be interpreted by other actors.
Any further discussion of the name Arlequin does not concern the Harlequin character but will be a question of the history of the "devil" character in medieval French passion plays. -- dab (𒁳) 11:21, 19 December 2013 (UTC)
I reckon adding a section for this topic would be appropriate, but wanted to see what we think. The section could explain how the traditional Harlequin role is still scripted into modern film (in at least those mainstream and western-made), and how the character/plot features are preserved. This could be kept general, feature a few famous examples in-paragraph (i.e. Joker from DC/'the Dark Knight' film, R2-D2 from the 'Star Wars' series, etc.), or even contain a list of Harlequin-role characters (this option would leave the See Also section for only traditional characters, if decided better that way). I think using brief examples in-sentence would be good, e.g.: "...core character features such as the ability to understand their existing in a film/"break the fourth wall", integral importance in the direction of the plot (themes similar to traditional Harlequin wand-action), and a constant voice of humour within the script. For an example, R2-D2 in the Star Wars film series is a key character in the entire plot, seemingly knowing all acts necessary to progress involved scenes - but also constantly acts and speaks comically, is extremely agile/acrobatic, and even alludes to events yet to happen to show his knowledge of the film series' own continuity." This example may be long, but is only an example for us to think about here. Let me know what we think. VeraxVoice ( talk) 14:45, 14 October 2021 (UTC)