# Clown



## Cecilio

Hello everybody.

A "clown" is basically someone who workes in a circus trying to make people laugh. They usually wear colourful clothes, wigs and a red nose.

The word for "clown" in Spanish is "payaso". This word is very often used as an insult, in fact it is a very common one. There is an expression, "hacer el payaso", which means "behaving like a clown", which is used exclusively as an insult. For example: "¡Deja de hacer el payaso!"--> "Stop bahaving as a fool!".

What is the word for "clown" in other countries? Is it also used as an insult?


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## Heba

In Arabic, it means مهرج  - pronounced as ''mohareg'' in Egypt and ''moharej'' in other Arab countries.

Most of the people I know use the word to describe somebody who is not serious in a deregatory sense. So, yes, it is an insult, at least to my own knowledge.


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## Namakemono

It's "pallaso" in Galician.


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## parakseno

Romanian:
clovn (masc.)
paiaţă (fem.)
măscărici (masc.)

It can also be used as an insult... "e îmbrăcat ca un clovn" - he's dressed like a clown.


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## Heba

parakseno said:


> It can also be used as an insult... "e îmbrăcat ca un clovn" - he's dressed like a clown.


 
It is sometimes used in this sense in Egypt too.
Sorry, I forgot that. Thank you parakseno


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## Ilmo

Finnish:
The clown (of a circus) is called usually *klovni*, which is apparently a direct adaptation of the English word. It is never used as an insult.
The original Finnish words for it are *ilveilijä* and *pelle*. The former is the term for the profession of a clown, the latter a bit more familiar word. It can be used as an insult, but then it is very mild and means only that the person in question does not take the things seriously.


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## Cecilio

Ilmo said:


> Finnish:
> The clown (of a circus) is called usually *klovni*, which is apparently a direct adaptation of the English word. It is never used as an insult.
> The original Finnish words for it are *ilveilijä* and *pelle*. The former is the term for the profession of a clown, the latter a bit more familiar word. It can be used as an insult, but then it is very mild and means only that the person in question does not take the things seriously.



In Spanish the word "payaso" can be very offensive when used as an insult. We also use the English word "clown" in some cases, without any derogatory connotation. For example, in drama it is typical to talk about "técnicas de clown". Maybe it's a euphemism, because "técnicas de payaso" would not sound so nice.


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## Outsider

Cecilio said:


> The word for "clown" in Spanish is "payaso". This word is very often used as an insult, in fact it is a very common one. There is an expression, "hacer el payaso", which means "behaving like a clown", which is used exclusively as an insult. For example: "¡Deja de hacer el payaso!"--> "Stop bahaving as a fool!".
> 
> What is the word for "clown" in other countries? Is it also used as an insult?


It's the same in Portuguese, except we say "palhaço".


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## Whodunit

In German, it's "Clown" (pronounced as if it were written "Klaun" in German, i.e. German L, German au). It would sound strange to English ears, I guess.

It can be used as an insult:

"Na, du bist vielleicht ein Clown!" (Oh, you must be a fool!)
"Du siehst ja aus wie ein Clown!" (You're dressed like a clown.)


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## aslan

"*Palyaço"* Yes Also in Turkish It is sometimes used as an insult;Also "buffoon" : Soytarı

Palyaçoluk yapma !!! Don t behave like a _clown_
Soytarılık yapma !!! Don t behave like a buffon
Soytarı!!! You buffoon,(_clown)_
Palyaço gibi giyinmişsin. _You're dressed like a clown_


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## Frank06

Hi,

In *Dutch*:
The red nosed circus dude we call 'clown'.



aslan said:


> "*Palyaço"* Yes Also in Turkish It is sometimes used as an insult;Also "buffoon" : Soytarı


In Dutch, *paljas* is also used this way.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## MariadeManila

Again, we have borrowed the spanish term here.
it's also called "payaso" in Filipino/Tagalog but never equated to " being foolish". just simply to a funny person.


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## übermönch

Adding to what whodunit said, German actually also has Bajass(compare with romance languages) and some original words like Kasper or Narr, though the latter two are better translated as "Jester".


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## Chazzwozzer

It's gotta be *pagliaccio *in _Italian_, since _Turkish _*paylaço* comes from that language. _*
*_


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## Cecilio

Chazzwozzer said:


> It's gotta be *pagliaccio *in _Italian_, since _Turkish _*paylaço* comes from that language. _*
> *_



Yes, the Spanish word "payaso" comes from Italian "pagliaccio". It would be interesting to know the origin of this Italian word.


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## pickypuck

Cecilio said:


> For example, in drama it is typical to talk about "técnicas de clown". Maybe it's a euphemism, because "técnicas de payaso" would not sound so nice.


 
Well, I think "clown" is the technical term to refer payasos who do a purer work or something like that. 

¡Olé!


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## larosa

In Hungarian its *bohóc,* and we don't use it as an insult.

_bohócot/bolondot csinál magából_* -* to make a fool of oneself
_bohóckodik_ - to behave like a clown


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## Etcetera

*In Russian: *клоун (kloun).


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## Honour

Chazzwozzer said:


> It's gotta be *pagliaccio *in _Italian_, since _Turkish _*paylaço* comes from that language.


 
ehm..maybe this version could be better this chazz 
*palyaço*


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## Chazzwozzer

Hahaha, silly me and my stupid typos.  Thank you.


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## Aleco

Ilmo said:


> Finnish:
> The clown (of a circus) is called usually *klovni*, which is apparently a direct adaptation of the English word. It is never used as an insult.
> The original Finnish words for it are *ilveilijä* and *pelle*. The former is the term for the profession of a clown, the latter a bit more familiar word. It can be used as an insult, but then it is very mild and means only that the person in question does not take the things seriously.



Well, "clown" is from Old Norse ....
I don't remember what kind of word it was, but it meant "fool"

*Norwegian:* klovn
*Lakota:* heyoka
*Hawaiian:* he mea ho'omāke'aka


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## Frank06

Hi,


Aleco said:


> Well, "clown" is from Old Norse ....
> I don't remember what kind of word it was, but it meant "fool"



This etymological dictionary states 'origin unknown', but it doesn't exclude a Skandinavian source, neither a Frisian one. Latin 'colonius' highly unlikely.
This one doubts too: either Skandinavian or Low German.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology doesn't know either: either Low German or Frisian.
Kluge Etymologisches Wörterbuch goes for the Latin 'colonius'.

Despite the huge differences, they all agree that original word was related with 'farmer', 'boor', 'boorish'.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Aleco

Yeah it sayd "from farmerish person" in my dictionary too, but also:
origin: Scandinavia
It had been a discussion about it another place too and they all said from Old Norse, Scandinavia, the North... etc.


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## Cecilio

Frank06 said:


> Hi,
> 
> 
> This etymological dictionary states 'origin unknown', but it doesn't exclude a Skandinavian source, neither a Frisian one. Latin 'colonius' highly unlikely.
> This one doubts too: either Skandinavian or Low German.
> The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology doesn't know either: either Low German or Frisian.
> Kluge Etymologisches Wörterbuch goes for the Latin 'colonius'.
> 
> Despite the huge differences, they all agree that original word was related with 'farmer', 'boor', 'boorish'.
> 
> Groetjes,
> 
> Frank



I don't see the connection between a farmer and a clown. In all or most languages that use the word "clown", it means something very specific.

I've been trying to find some information about the etimology of "pagliaccio" in Italian and I haven't found much. It seems that it could come from some kind of masks that some jesters or comedians used to wear. They looked like a "paglaccio", that is, a sack made of straw ("paglia").


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## amikama

Hebrew: *ליצן* (_leitsan_).

And it's not _that_ offensive...  Just a guy that speaks/looks/behaves foolishly.


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## Frank06

Hi Aleco,


Aleco said:


> Yeah it sayd "from farmerish person" in my dictionary too, but also:
> origin: Scandinavia
> It had been a discussion about it another place too and they all said from Old Norse, Scandinavia, the North... etc.


Who are "they"? . 
I'm really interested in etymological issues, and I quite interested in what different sources say about one specific word. Sometimes, it is so different... Could you please post the title or url of the dictionary (in case it's an online dico).

BTW, even the Svensk Akademiens Ordbok refers to Low German origins (*if* I understand the article well).

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Heba

Chazzwozzer said:


> It's gotta be *pagliaccio *in _Italian_, since _Turkish _*paylaço* comes from that language.


 
In Egyptian colloquial Arabic, we sometimes use the word بلياتشو (peliacho) too. 
That is interesting. I always suspected that it was Italian


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## Maja

In Serbian: 

klovn / кловн.


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## gigi1

In greek:
κλόουν (klo-oon)
παλιάτσος (paliatsos) italian origin,we got it from the Italians and not the Turks


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## zaigucis

Latvian: klauns


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## MarX

Cecilio said:


> Hello everybody.
> 
> A "clown" is basically someone who workes in a circus trying to make people laugh. They usually wear colourful clothes, wigs and a red nose.
> 
> The word for "clown" in Spanish is "payaso". This word is very often used as an insult, in fact it is a very common one. There is an expression, "hacer el payaso", which means "behaving like a clown", which is used exclusively as an insult. For example: "¡Deja de hacer el payaso!"--> "Stop bahaving as a fool!".
> 
> What is the word for "clown" in other countries? Is it also used as an insult?


Hi Cecilio!

In Indonesian it's called *badut*.

It is sometimes used to call someone, but usually not in an insulting way. It'd just mean that he's funny.

Salam,


MarX


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## blue_jewel

In Tagalog: Payaso (Usually performing on occassions most especially at children's party like Birthdays, baptismals,etc)


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## Cecilio

blue_jewel said:


> In Tagalog: Payaso (Usually performing on occassions most especially at children's party like Birthdays, baptismals,etc)



It seems that the tagalog word comes from the Spanish "payaso". I wonder if it is also used with pejorative connotations, as it sometimes happens in Spanish.


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## kusurija

In Czech:
klaun, 
šašek

In Lithuanian: 
klounas


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## blue_jewel

Cecilio said:


> It seems that the tagalog word comes from the Spanish "payaso". I wonder if it is also used with pejorative connotations, as it sometimes happens in Spanish.


 

Spanish has a great part in the Philippine history most especially in our culture and language. And "payaso" is one of those several words borrowed from them. But "payaso" here in our country doesn't have any negative connotation, in fact they're known as the ones who entertain and give joys in whatever occassions they're performing. And they're well-loved by kids.


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