Faerie: the Land of the Fairies

Faerie, in Early Modern English, was the name for Fairyland, the land or abode of fairies. Nowadays, ‘faerie’ is used to mean fairies themselves, along with other terms like fays or the fae, fayre or fairye. Only in Modern English has ‘fairy’ transferred from the name of the realm to the name of its inhabitants.

 

 

Shifts from Place to People

 

Apothecary and laundry are other examples of this place-to-inhabitant shift. Apothecary can be both place and practitioner. Laundry used to mean the building but now it means the items intended for that place (the place now being named ‘laundrette’ to separate it from the items).

 

 

Etymology

 

Faerie comes from the Old French fae and -erie, meaning the sphere or realm of dream, enchantment, illusion or magic. The -erie suffix, present in Middle English and Anglo-Norman, forms nouns that mean ‘place of’. Immediate examples are bakery, brewery and nunnery. So, a bakery is the place of baking and Faerie is the place of faes.

 

 

Pronunciation

 

The pronunciation of Faerie is not the same as fairy: fA-ree instead of feh-ree. In French, an ae combo is the same sound as the é in café and fée; as Faerie is from French, this French pronunciation rule applies.

 

Fée is from Middle French, originating from the Old French fae; it is the origin of fey which is pronounced like the English word fay.

 

 

What about ‘Fey’?

 

The word ‘fey’ is often associated with fay. This is more fluke than anything else. Fey is an Old English word, meaning someone that’s either fated to die or who has second sight. (Two things associated with interactions with the fay.)

 

Fey shares a root with words in fellow Germanic languages meaning the same thing. These don’t share the same Indo-European origin with the French fay (a Romance language). So the fact these two words are homophones and their definitions are associated is quite a coincidence.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Fairy originates from Faerie, once used and pronounced the same. Then fairy changed in both use and pronunciation. It isn’t the only example of a change in use, from place to inhabitant. After this, these changes were applied retrospectively to Faerie. I personally like this distinction.