Fairy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:36, 26 May 2007

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The word '''''fay''''' came to English from [[Old French]] ''fae'', and originated in the [[Vulgar Latin]] feminine ''[[fata]]'', referring to the [[Fates]], personifications of destiny (the [[Greek mythology|Greek]] [[Moirae]]), e.g. ''[[Fata Morgana]]'' or ''Morgan le Fay''.

English '''''fairy'''''' was loaned in ca. 1300 from Old French ''faerie'' "land of fairies, enchantment", an abstract noun of ''fae'' (''fae-ry'' as in e.g. ''yoeman'' vs. ''yoemanry''). From adjectival use ("fairy gold", "fairy queen" etc.) from the 15th century applied to the class of supernatural beings inhabiting ''faerie'';, re-interpreted as an adjective of ''fair'', singular ''fairy'' with a new plural ''fairies''. The term ''[[fairy tale]]'' is a translation of the ''Conte de feés'' of [[Madame d'Aulnois]] (1698). The spelling ''faery'' first appears 1590 in Spenser's ''[[Faery Queene]]''. From Spenser's use, the spelling with ''-ea-'' came to be used in a dignified or literary sense as opposed to common folk tales. [[J. R. R. Tolkien]] makes use of the distinction, in ''[[On Fairy-Stories]]'' defining ''Faerie'' as "the realm or state in which fairies have their being", depicted as a mystical or visionary state in ''[[Smith of Wooton Major]]''.

==Origin of fairies==