Harlequin [L16th] Harlequin is the name of a mute character, masked and dressed in a diamond-patterned costume, who played a leading role in the harlequinade [L18th], a section of a traditional pantomime. As pantomime developed from being a prologue into a dramatized story, it included a transformation scene in which Harlequin and his mistress Columbine performed a dance. Harlequin comes from French, from the earlier Herlequin (or Hellequin), the leader of a legendary troop of demon horsemen. It may ultimately be related to Old English Herla cyning, ‘King Herla’, a mythical figure found in early British legend and sometimes identified with Woden. See italian words, pantomime.