fairy

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɛəɹi/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English fairie, fayrye, borrowed from Old French faerie (“land of fairies, meeting of fairies”),^[2][3][4] from fae, fee, a fairy (see fay), and -erie (see -ery),^[2][3][5] from Latin fata (“the Fates”), plural of fātum (see fate).^[6][7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Enchantment, an illusion: probably before 1300, in Kyng Alisaunder;^[3] the land of the fays, fairyland, about 1300.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

Faerie was originally the collective term, with fae or fay the singular,^[6] and fairy-folk is an obsolete sense of about 1320.^[8] A supernatural being dwelling in fairyland is from the late 14th century (1393, in Gower),^[2][3][8] and Chaucer wrote ther been no fairyes.^[2] Hoad notes that applying the word to a single being is peculiar to English.^[4] The sense may have shifted from place to inhabitant through forms such as fairie knight.^[2] In Spenser's Faerie Queene fairies are still heroic and human-sized,^[2][6] and the tiny winged beings of children's stories are from the early 17th century.^[2] Trench notes that it was once applied to the spirits of classical antiquity.^[9] Fairy tale (1749, in Walpole's letters) translates French conte de fées.^[3] As an offensive word for a homosexual man it is a modern slang sense.^[10][11]

Timeline

• before 1300 – enchantment.^[3]
• c. 1320 – fairy-folk.^[8]
• 1393 – a supernatural being.^[8]
• early 17th century – tiny winged beings.^[2]
• 1749 – fairy tale.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An imaginary tiny being in human form with magical powers, often clever and mischievous.
2. (offensive slang) A homosexual man.

Adjective

1. Of or like fairies; delicate.

Word family

• fairylike

Related words

• fay
• faerie
• fate
• fairy tale
• fairyland

Usage notes

Away with the fairies means out of touch with reality.^[11]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Trench, Richard Chenevix (1859), A Select Glossary of English Words Used Formerly in Senses Different from Their Present, London: John W. Parker
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
11. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins