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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Jjhake (talk | contribs) at 15:52, 7 April 2023 (→There should be a note of Fairy's etymology from Peri: Reply). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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DateProcessResult
January 30, 2007Peer reviewReviewed

Probable misspelling in Etymology

Besides the lack of reference for the first paragraph, some other online sources like the Wikitionary and the Online Etymology Dictionary, suggests that the spelling is Faerie or Færie, not Faierie. Neither Faie, but Fae[1][2][3]. Even the source of the second paragraph [4], that credits that "In Old French romance, a faie or fee[...]", does not mention Faierie neither Faie with those spellings, but do mention a Faerie Queene and an Abode of the Faes. Fee, however is in tune to the sources.

The possible misspelling appears five times in three different sentences:

  1. "Faerie, in turn, derives from the Old French form faierie, a derivation from faie (from Vulgar Latin fata) with the abstract noun suffix -erie." -- in the first paragraph.
  2. "In Old French romance, a faie or fee was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs." -- in the second paragraph.
  3. "Faie became Modern English fay, while faierie became fairy, but this spelling almost exclusively refers to one individual (the same meaning as fay). In the sense of "land where fairies dwell", archaic spellings faery and faerie are still in use." -- in the third paragraph.

I suggest to adapt the first sentence to be in a more fine tune with the sources (removing, for example "with the abstract noun suffix -erie.") and then add the mentioned sources, or others. Even Tolkien when mentioning faierie with an i mentions it explaining a mistake made by an Oxford Dictionary edition prior to A.D. 1450PDF page 4.

--Carretinha (talk) 05:53, 7 April 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Move discussion in progress

There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Feary (surname) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you. —RMCD bot 13:51, 28 October 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Work of H.P. Lovecraft about Fairy as "Hidden people"

Could just someone edit the rubric "Hidden people" of this page "Fairy" for mention the work of Lovecraft about this ?

In 1932, the famous writer H.P. Lovecraft writes a short text about this thesis :"Some backgrounds of Fairyland" Reference : H.P. Lovecraft. « Some backgrounds of Fairyland » in Marginalia, Arkham House, 1944, p. 174-181. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A01:E0A:A36:1630:A88D:1D8:F5B:5BE7 (talk) 14:16, 3 April 2022 (UTC)[reply]

The "Demoted Pagan Deities" section, lacks citations

This is my first time suggesting/editing wikipedia, so please go easy on me, also please excuse formatting

"Demoted pagan deities

At one time it was thought that fairies were originally worshiped as deities, such as nymphs and tree spirits,[28] and with the burgeoning predominance of the Christian Church, reverence for these deities carried on, but in a dwindling state of perceived power. Many deprecated deities of older folklore and myth were repurposed as fairies in Victorian fiction (See the works of W. B. Yeats for examples)."


The "Demoted Pagan Deities" section only has a single example/citation. There really should be more than a source citation if possible.

SARankDirector (talk) 15:15, 16 May 2022 (UTC)[reply]

New section drafted on "Christian belief in fairies"

I've drafted a section on several modern Christian theologians and philosophers who have written about the reality of fairies: David Bentley Hart, John Milbank, Stephen R. L. Clark, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien. This content, if others agree that it is relevant to the article, might be better integrated into the rest of the outline, but I did not see an obvious location for it. Feedback and suggestions much appreciated. Jjhake (talk) 03:43, 11 January 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I'm quite familiar with "On Fairy-Stories", and it absolutely does not affirm any belief in fairies as a real thing. It's about the literary device of "fairy-stories", and how it applies to our psychology. The quote by C.S. Lewis paraphrasing a comment Tolkien once made to him is similarly presented as a literal belief in fairies, when Tolkien is clearly speaking in a philosophical sense. The section as a whole seems to be ascribing a generalised trend in Christianity to the individual beliefs of a few philosophers, and taking some of the metaphorical or figurative comments of those philosophers at face value. It contains useful information, for sure (the section on Hart's belief that they exist is good) but I believe it could be better integrated into a general "modern belief in fairies" section. Apcynan (talk) 08:31, 5 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. The section should be clarified regarding how this is only a minority idea within Christianity. And Tolkien is only explicit about the possible reality of fairies in two places, the conversation reported by Lewis and the “Manuscript B” that I note. In addition to the five or so modern Christian thinkers, there are many example that are not modern, however, and I think it makes the most sense consolidated as a minority voice within Christianity. Jjhake (talk) 12:42, 5 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Apcynan: reading over your comment again, I might need to put some quotes into the citations to help here. The “Manuscript B” by Tolkien is clearly a second example of Tolkien being very glad to entertain a literal belief in fairies. The material from Milbank, Clark, Hart, and Lewis are all substantial as well in the more modern era. There is much more that could be cited when it comes to premodern Christianity as well, of course. Jjhake (talk) 12:57, 5 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]
@Apcynan: I've tried restructuring the section to achieve several things: 1) make it clear that belief in fairies is a minority position within the Christian tradition, 2) follow a chronological order to allow for notes on the changes in the nature of belief that do take place with modernity, 3) select a more clear and explicit passage from Tolkien. There are no doubt far too many block quotes, and those should likely be summarized and cut down to very brief in-line quotations of just brief key phrases. I'm also open to the concern that this entire section is misplaced or poorly-structured in some more basic way, but I'm hoping that my few edits are starting to address some of the problems that you pointed. Jjhake (talk) 19:00, 5 March 2023 (UTC)[reply]

There should be a note of Fairy's etymology from Peri

The word Fairy/Fae ultimately comes from the Indo-Iranian 'peri'. It's very odd that this page makes absolutely no mention of that. A bit dubious, if I'm being straightforward. 75.213.21.10 (talk) 10:32, 7 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the note. It does not look like most would consider there to be an etymological connection:
However, I see some great sources to use in finding connections between stories, and will hope to find ways to improve the article using such content:
  • "Oriental Fairy Tale and its Influence on European Literature: Intertextuality of Texts and Translations" by Sabohat Allamurodova and Bakhtiyor Rakhmanov
  • "The Indo-Iranian Influence on Tolkien" by Michael McClain
Jjhake (talk) 15:52, 7 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]
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