On Origins of Fairies

By Wiktor

- 5 minutes read - 1058 words

While talking about folklore tales, it is literally impossible not to think about one very special kind of being. The one that is probably among the least specifically described and consistent across all stories they make an appearance in. Which seems weird, especially considering that they are so widely spread in folklore that they, in fact, are in the name of a genre of magical tales. Today we take a closer look at the origins of the færies.

Færies of this world

The word fairy, and closely related to it word fay, comes from Old French færie meaning enchantment and land of magic. However, it originated, just as a surprising amount of other things, in Latin and inseparable from it Roman mythology. To be exact, its origins lay in the personifications of destiny, depicted as three women named Nona, Decima and Morta. Together they were called Parcae, and their presence has always intertwined with the concept of fatum. They were the fate itself, not just mere predestination, but the binding words spoken by gods themselves. Yet those were the words to which even the gods had to conform.

Perhaps Parcae, the Fates, were what has later transformed into a classical image of a fairy. But those were not just a Roman concept. There were obviously Greek Moirai, but also Nordic Norns or Slavic Radzanice. Maybe that was such a widespread concept, idea nested so deeply in us, that it was able to evolve and find its place even in modern days, surviving despite the apparent fall of cultures that have created it.

The first mention of fairy in the literature was made by Homer in Iliad, although it is worth to note that a magnitude of other mythical creatures mentioned in mythology is considered a fairy in modern times, including nymphs and satires. However, the original concept of færies as we know them today comes from Celtic oral stories. This lore was so important for Celtic peoples living in ancient times that some researchers have even suggested that it was the very core of Celtic religion. It is unlikely to be the case, but some legends are suggesting færies were some form of diminished ancient gods or maybe rather scattered fragments of those gods. However, other Celtic tales did not seem to distinguish between the færy and the dead people, so perhaps they originally were just an equivalent of a soul or a ghost.

First written description of a færy was made by lawyer and historian Gervase of Tilbury. He wasn't by far the first to write about færies, for instance, works of Walter Map predated him by almost a century. However, most previous works either did not preserve to modern times or does not mention any description of fairies. In his work Otia Imperiala he has supplied the description of such beings. He has mentioned a magical being of a diminutive size, which he named a Portune and some kind of water spirit named Dracae. Which seems interesting, because fairies depicted as beings resembling tiny people started to show regularly during the Victorian era when they have begun to appear in children's stories. Which brings up an interesting point.

What we today call a fairy is not a single type of creature. This term was used to describe both mythical small beings and also the powerful sorceresses, human in appearance. To be fair, it is the latter type that was the most common in medieval art. For instance, in Arthurian legends, the characters of Lady of The Lake or Morgan le Fay were usually depicted as fairies, as was a magnitude of others.

Another intriguing element is that this dichotomy is not exclusive to the fairies alone. In Norse mythology, the elves are creatures that are described as both an equivalent of fairies and as a type of them. They are also often presented either in the form of human or small malignant beings, same as fairies. At least since the Middle Ages, at which time those terms started to merge slowly with each other. To make things even more complicated, some of the first English mentions of fairies are in charms protecting against the elf-shot. Such shot was believed to be an elven attack that could put down even the strongest man. The fairies were sometimes described as an immaterial protective ghost. And in British culture sometimes people called them an elf.

It is really confusing. The explanation why may be hidden in the meaning of their name. Originally, the word fairy used to describe any being that has come from the Faery, the land of magic. Personally, I believe at least some of those magical beings were originally just foreign women of noble birth, hence their description with the word fairy, in this context meaning exotic. But after the uncountable number of retellings those oral traditions have changed and evolved, so the stories created a mythos around those female characters, making them enchantresses and sorceresses, and perhaps ultimately evolving into fairies. I know this is a rather unlikely possibility, but perhaps it is in a way at least a little true.

The topic of fairies is much more interesting and deeper than I could have ever imagined. They combine elements of basically every European culture and have tales of them influence basically every aspect of life, from religious, through romance and epic stories, to everyday life and work.

The fact is that in modern times the fairies have become a grab bag for all similar themes. However, those themes have at least some common items. Therefore, they allow us to learn about the cultures and people that once were in a different way than historical records. And there may not be a much better way to discover long lost oral tales and stories that had been never written down.

Originally I intended for this post to be longer but closed write-up of some of the most interesting fairy stories. However, after initial research, I got so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, most of which being really convoluted or just straight contradicting each other, that I have decided to change original concept. I intend this post as a brief introduction to more detailed writings that will from time to time follow. Other posts on this topic will also show here.

Everything best,
— Wiktor