Editing Clown (section)

=== Origin ===
The ''clown'' character developed out of the [[zanni]] ''rustic fool'' characters of the early modern [[commedia dell'arte]], which were themselves directly based on the ''rustic fool'' characters of ancient [[Theatre of ancient Greece|Greek]] and [[Theatre of ancient Rome|Roman theatre]]. Rustic buffoon characters in Classical Greek theater were known as ''sklêro-paiktês'' (from ''paizein'': ''to play (like a child)'') or ''deikeliktas'', besides other generic terms for ''rustic'' or ''peasant''. In Roman theater, a term for clown was ''fossor'', literally ''digger; labourer''.

[[File:Joseph Grimaldi.jpg|thumb|right|225px|[[Joseph Grimaldi]] as "Joey" the Clown, c. 1810]]
The English word ''[[:wikt:clown|clown]]'' was first recorded c. 1560 (as ''clowne, cloyne'') in the generic meaning ''rustic, boor, peasant''. The origin of the word is uncertain, perhaps from a Scandinavian word cognate with ''clumsy''.{{refn|group=lower-alpha|Icelandic ''klunni'', Swedish ''kluns'' "clumsy, boorish person"; cf. North Frisian ''klönne'' and ''kluns'', also meaning ''clumsy person''. An alternative proposal derives ''clown'' from Latin ''colonus'' "colonist, farmer". The verb ''to clown'' "to play the clown onstage" is from about 1600.<ref>{{cite web|title=Etymology Dictionary|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/clown|access-date=May 6, 2020}}</ref>}} It is in this sense that ''Clown'' is used as the name of [[Shakespearean fool|fool characters]] in Shakespeare's ''[[Othello]]'' and ''[[The Winter's Tale]]''. The sense of ''clown'' as referring to a professional or habitual fool or jester developed soon after 1600, based on [[English Renaissance theatre|Elizabethan]] ''rustic fool'' characters such as Shakespeare's.

The [[harlequinade]] developed in England in the 17th century, inspired by [[Harlequin|Arlecchino]] and the commedia dell'arte. It was here that ''[[Clown (Harlequinade)|Clown]]'' came into use as the given name of a stock character. Originally a foil for Harlequin's slyness and adroit nature, Clown was a buffoon or bumpkin fool who resembled less a jester than a comical idiot. He was a lower class character dressed in tattered servants' garb.

The now-classical features of the clown character were developed in the early 1800s by [[Joseph Grimaldi]], who played Clown in [[Charles Dibdin the younger|Charles Dibdin's]] 1800 pantomime ''Peter Wilkins: or Harlequin in the Flying World'' at [[Sadler's Wells Theatre]], where Grimaldi built the character up into the central figure of the harlequinade.<ref name=Neville6>{{Harvnb|Neville|1980|pp=6–7}}</ref><ref name=Wilkins>{{Harvnb|McConnell Stott|2009|pp=95–100}}</ref>