An interesting word from a uni rag-week magazine (I read anything!):

Palliasse - A thin mattress filled with straw or sawdust, f. F paillasse, f. It. pagliaccio, f. Rom. paleaceum, f .L palea, straw, chaff.

The word was described by AHD and MW as a variant of paillasse, although I have never seen it spelt that way in English; maybe that is a USn spelling?

The most interesting thing though is that it seems to be only the OED that brings in the Italian word pagliaccio, which generally is defined as meaning ‘clown’, or ‘buffoon’ (hence the famous opera). I can’t see any connection although the language link between country people and clowns is an established one.

There is the last word in the definition above, 'chaff', n. [AC. ceaf; akin to D. kaf, G. kaff.] Light jesting talk; banter; raillery. But it's stretching it a bit to link that with 'clown'!

Is pagliaccio an Oxford error, or is there a positive connection do you think?