# Origin of "Scaramouch"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 1, 2004, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287 "2004-11-01T09:35:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 9:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/1 "2004-11-01T09:35:46Z")
An age-old question: Mentioned in a Queen song and also (apparently) a play, what is this word!?! A place? A person? And, why does Queen refer to it in “Bohemian Rhapsody”? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Saitou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Saitou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saitou)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/2 "2004-11-01T09:40:40Z")
IIRC Scaramouch was a character from old italian farce, valiant in words but not in deeds ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/3 "2004-11-01T09:49:09Z")
OK, and what do you know about “Bismillah”? A google search describes it as a praise for Allah, but is that what Queen meant? if so, the lyrics are scattered all over the religious spectrum, huh? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/4 "2004-11-01T09:55:18Z")
Perhaps most familiar in the 20th century from the colorful and popular [historical novel](http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext99/scmsh10.txt) _Scaramouche: A Romance of the French Revolution_ (1921), by Rafael Sabatini. As one person in the novel describes this stock character from Italian comedy: > [@](#): > > Then here we have Scaramouche, whom also you already know. Sometimes he is Scapin and sometimes Coviello, but in the main Scaramouche, to which let me tell you he is best suited — sometimes too well suited, I think. For he is Scaramouche not only on the stage, but also in the world. He has a gift of sly intrigue, an art of setting folk by the ears, combined with an impudent aggressiveness upon occasion when he considers himself safe from reprisals. He is Scaramouche, the little skirmisher, to the very life. And then there is the famous opening line of the novel: > [@](#): > > He was born with the gift of laughter, and a sense that the world was mad. How could Freddie Mercury not love that character? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/5 "2004-11-01T10:10:05Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > OK, and what do you know about “Bismillah”? A google search describes it as a praise for Allah, but is that what Queen meant? if so, the lyrics are scattered all over the religious spectrum, huh? - Jinx Well, considering that Freddy Mercury was born a Zoroastrian in Islamic Zanzibar and came of age in England, that wouldn’t be a huge surprise. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/6 "2004-11-01T14:06:18Z")
Scaramouche was a stock character in the _Comedia Del Atre_, which also featured other ramous stock charaters such as Pantalone, the origin of the word Pants. Scaramouche was a clown, who would often sing and dance. He would also advance the cause of the young lovers and serve a a foil for the unapproving parent. As for possible arabic/islamic lyrics in Bohemian Rhapsody, it would not be impossible. On their albumn Jazz, Queen has the largely arabic song “Mustapha.” > [@](#): > > Mustapha, Mustapha, Mustapha Ibrahim > Allah Allah Allah will pray for you. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-scaramouch/272287/7 "2004-11-01T16:04:24Z")
I seem to recall an interview where Mercury basically admitted he just used a bunch of exotic sounding words that sounded good. There was no deeper symbolic meaning.