Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The term fairy is peculiar to the English language and to English folklore, reflecting the conflation of Germanic, Celtic and Romance folklore and legend since the Middle English period (it is a Romance word which has been given the associations of fair by folk etymology secondarily).
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, and French folklore), a form of spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities.
Germanic lore featured light and dark elves (Ljósálfar and Dökkálfar).This may be roughly equivalent to later concepts such as the Seelie and Unseelie. [2]In the mid-thirteenth century, Thomas of Cantimpré classified fairies into neptuni of water, incubi who wandered the earth, dusii under the earth, and spiritualia nequitie in celestibus, who inhabit the air.
Fairyland may be referred to simply as Fairy or Faerie, though that usage is an archaism.It is often the land ruled by the "Queen of Fairy", and thus anything from fairyland is also sometimes described as being from the "Court of the Queen of Elfame" or from the Seelie court in Scottish folklore.
The prince thanking the Water sprite, from The Princess Nobody: A Tale of Fairyland (1884) by Andrew Lang (illustration by Richard Doyle). The belief in diminutive beings such as sprites, elves, fairies, etc. has been common in many parts of the world, and might to some extent still be found within neo-spiritual and religious movements such as "neo-druidism" and Ásatrú.
The etymology of puck was uncertain. [1] The modern English word is attested already in Old English as puca (with a diminutive form pucel).Similar words are attested later in Old Norse (púki, with related forms including Old Swedish puke, Icelandic púki, and Frisian puk) but also in the Celtic languages (Welsh pwca, Cornish bucca and Irish púca).
Seelie is a term for fairies in Scottish folklore, appearing in the form of seely wights or The Seelie Court.The Northern and Middle English word seely (also seily, seelie, sealy), and the Scots form seilie, mean "happy", "lucky" or "blessed."
After researching folklore traditions gathered primarily from Gaelic areas of Scotland, [16] an authority on congenital disorders, Susan Schoon Eberly, has speculated the tale of the Ghillie Dhu may have a basis in a human being with a medical condition; [17] other academics, such as Carole G. Silver, Professor of English at Stern College for Women, [18] agree and suggest he was a dwarf. [13]