_Harlequins_ (Vol. iii., p. 287.).--The origin of the word _hellequin_,
unknown to M. Paul Paris, is to be sought in Scandinavia, especially
Norway, whence so many swarms of fierce Pagan settlers rushed into
Normandy and other parts of France. The _helle-quinna_ or _hell-quean_
was the famous _hela_ or _hel_, the _death-goddess_ (whence our word
_hell_, the _death-realm_, as still used in the Creed, &c.), so well
known also to our own West Scandinavian (commonly called Anglo-Saxon)
forefathers. The Wild Hunt of the Helle-quinna (the Death-quean and her
Meynie) was therefore soon easily synonymous with that of _La Mort_,
and, as M. Paris has well observed, naturally led to the grotesque
mummeries of _notre famille d'Arlequin_.