Editing Fairy (section)

== Etymology ==
The English ''fairy'' derives from the Early Modern English ''faerie'', meaning '[[fairyland|realm of the ''fays'']]'. ''Faerie'', in turn, derives from the [[Old French]] form {{lang|fro|faierie}}, a derivation from {{lang|fro|faie}} (from [[Vulgar Latin]] {{lang|la|fata}}, '[[Parcae|the fates]]'), with the [[abstract noun]] suffix {{wikt-lang|fro|-erie}}.

In Old French romance, a {{lang|fro|faie}} or {{lang|fro|fee}} was a woman skilled in magic, and who knew the power and virtue of words, of stones, and of herbs.<ref name="Kready">{{cite book |url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/sft/sft07.htm |last=Kready |first=Laura |title=A Study of Fairy Tales |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Company |location=Boston |year=1916 }}</ref>

''Fairy'' was used to represent: an illusion or enchantment; the land of the Faes; collectively the inhabitants thereof; an individual such as a fairy knight.<ref name="Kready"/> {{lang|fro|Faie}} became Modern English ''[[:wikt:fay|fay]]'', while {{lang|fro|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.

[[Romance languages|Latinate]] {{lang|roa|fae}}, from which ''fairy'' derives, is distinct from English {{wikt-lang|gem|fey}} (from Old English {{lang|ang|fǣġe}}), which means 'fated to die'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=fey |title=fey |work=Online Etymology Dictionary }}</ref> However, this unrelated Germanic word {{lang|gem|fey}} may have been influenced by Old French {{lang|fro|fae}} (fay or fairy) as the meaning had shifted slightly to 'fated' from the earlier 'doomed' or 'accursed'.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/fey?term=fey |title=Definition of "fey" |work=Dictionary.com }}</ref>

Various folklore traditions refer to fairies [[euphemism|euphemistically]] as ''[[little people (mythology)|wee folk]]'', ''good folk'', ''people of peace'', ''fair folk'' ([[Welsh language|Welsh]]: {{lang|wlm|[[Tylwyth Teg]]}}), etc.<ref name="Briggs1">{{cite book |author-link=Katharine Mary Briggs |last=Briggs |first=Katharine Mary |year=1976 |title=An Encyclopedia of Fairies |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffa00brig |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Pantheon Books |chapter=Euphemistic names for fairies |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaoffa00brig/page/127 127] |isbn=0-394-73467-X }}</ref>