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Fairy
Take the Fair Face of Woman... by Sophie Anderson A fairy is a spirit (supernatural being) found in the legends, folklore, and mythology of many different cultures. They are generally humanoid in form, though of a higher, spiritual nature and so possessed of preternatural abilities, along with such mystical qualities as otherworldly beauty and grace, an ethereal glow, wings, or the like. They are also regarded as aloof, ephemeral, mercurial, and whimsical, among other qualities that place them outside of a human scope. They are often associated or confused with other mythological creatures.
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Etymology
The words fae and faerie came to English from Old French. These terms might have been inherited from Latin, but another possible route is from the farsi word "pari", which describes a type of exquisite, winged fallen angel.
The Latin root Fata influenced modern Italian's fata and Spanish's hada, both of which mean fairy, and the Old French fée, which gained the meaning "enchanter." By adding the ending -rie, we get féerie, meaning a "state of fée" or "enchantment." This also befits the fae, who are known for casting illusions and altering emotions, particularly so as to make themselves alluring, frightening, or unseen. The persian
Modern English inherited the two terms "fae" and "fairy," along with all the associations attached to them. Since the subjects of the words are somewhat alien and ethereal, the terms are often used interchangeably and are more prone to spelling alterations than other words.
Another word, "fey," has historically meant "doomed to die," mostly in Scotland. However, it gained the meaning "touched by otherworldly or magical quality; clairvoyant, supernatural." In modern English, the word seems to be conjoining into "fae" as variant spelling. If "fey" derives from "fata," which seems as like as "fairy" deriving from "fata," then the word history of the two words is itself fae.1
There is, however, a slight distinction between the two words "fae" and "faerie." Properly, "fae" is a noun referring to a specific race of otherworldly beings exercising mystical abilities (either the elves [or equivalent thereof] in mythology or their insect-winged, floral descendants in English folklore), while "faerie" is an adjective meaning "of, like, or associated with fays, their otherworldly home, their activities, and their produced goods and effects." Thus, a leprechaun and a ring of mushrooms are both faerie things (a fairy leprechaun and a fairy ring.)
The word "Pari" in Persian is interesting in that it has similar sounds and meanings to the English "Fairy" - both words begin with voiceless sounds produced in similar ways (the fricative "f," when made labial, becomes "p"), contain a liquid (r), and have quasi-similar vowels; both describe ethereal spirits with similar attributes (beauty, shapechanging magic, etc.), and both are somewhat associated with the feminine gender. However, it is unlikely that the two words are linguistically related, as there is little evidence that Pari (or an etymological root for it) influenced the Latin "fata," which is well documented in being the root for fae and faerie.
Character and attributes
Fairies of the meadow, by Nils BlommérThe question of the essential nature of fairies has been the topic of myths, stories, and scholarly paper for a very long time. Examples abound (see below), but some of the most well-known tales in the English and French traditions were collected in the "colored" fairy books of Scots man of letters Andrew Lang between 1889 and 1910. These stories depict fairies in a multitude of contradictory ways — kindly and dangerous, steadfast and fickle, loving and aloof, simple and unknowable. This may be because, since faeries are supernatural, chaotic, and apparently fictional entities, they are difficult to categorize. Consequently, depictions of faerie are rife with creatures that are completely unrelated to the "traditional" fairy, save that they are mythological in origin. There is a central archetypal figure behind most of the stories described as a tall, delicate, radiant being of humanoid aspect. Some groups refer to faires as "the shining ones."[1] The provenance of this term is uncertain, but it seems to derive from the sanskrit term "deva", which has been coopted by the New Age movement.
However, the mercurial and inherently magical nature of the fairy archetype has led to their association and confusion with most other mythical creatures. Dwarves, giants, dragons, unicorns, and the like have at some point been made out to be fairies, if not fae themselves.
Selected Examples of Fairies
In Literature
William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream deals extensively with the subject of fairy-folk and their interaction with a group of amateur theatrical players. This work details the spell cast by the mischievous fairy Puck (at the behest of the fairy-king Oberon) on Oberon's wife Titania, who falls in love with the first mortal she casts eyes upon, the unfortunate Bottom, whom Puck has transmogrified into having a donkey's head.
In his Fairy Folk Tales of Ireland (1892), W. B. Yeats coined the expression "trooping fairies" to refer to those fairies who liked to travel together in groups, related to the sidhe, Christianised remnants of the Tuatha Dé Danann. This is in contrast to the solitary fairies, such as the banshee, leprechaun, or pooka. Typically Yeats's trooping fairies are compared to the elves of English lore.
In the earlier versions of Tolkien's Middle Earth, the creatures later known as Elves were called Fairies.
In the visual arts
Artists such as Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Myrea Pettit, Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Cicely Mary Barker, Amy Brown and Peg Maltby have all created beautiful illustrations of fairies.
Conversely, the Victorian painter Richard Dadd was responsible for some paintings of fairy-folk with an altogether more sinister and malign nature. Another notable Victorian painter of fairies was the artist and illustrator Arthur Rackham. Interest in fairy themed art in Britain enjoyed a brief renaissance following the Cottingley fairies photographs, and a number of artists turned to painting fairy themes.
Fairy painting
In modern popular culture
Kylie Minogue as the Green Fairy in Moulin Rouge!Blue Fairy
In Carlo Collodi's tale Pinocchio the wooden boy receives the gift of real life from the Blue Fairy.
The Legend of Zelda
Fairies have been Link's helpers from the very first game. In the beginning they simply replenished his health or revived him and now in the newer games they are life-long companions.
Tinkerbell
Originally from the Peter Pan stories by J.M. Barrie, but more famous for the Disney version. She is also often referred to as a pixie, and leaves a trail of fairy dust (or pixie dust) behind wherever.
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