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Author
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Comment
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flamebrain00
Registered User
(2/11/03 11:37:55 am)
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Fairy/Fae
Could someone explain the difference between the two? I've never been sure exactly of the origins of "fairies". I know the fae, or elves, or whatever one wishes to call them, have been linked to many origins (most often to Tuatha de Danaan). So where, exactly do fairies come from? And how do they differ from elves? In art, they often seem to be depicted similarly, which just lends itself to more confusion on my part.
~flamebrain
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Elizabeth
Unregistered User
(2/12/03 4:42:21 pm)
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well...
Well origionally fairy was spelled faerie. Fae or fay being a shortened form of the origional word. It was used to both to encompass all other worldly beings, as an adjective to describe someone who acted stragely, and further as the actual place that other worldly being inhabited as in fairyland. Today however fairy typically is the word used to depict a sprite such as Tinkerbelle from Peter Pan, an example of a diminished being, and faerie is used to describe the powerful beings who continue in power. Elves on the other hand, are more akin to the faeries in that they are powerful and majestic, but they tend towards mortality a little more and have never been able to fly. The best example is of the elves in the Lord of the Rings. Elves also tend to help people more often hten faeries and there aren't any evil elves.
Liz
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(2/13/03 4:33:01 pm)
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Re: well...
If I can respectfully contradict Liz, there are more dangerous elves, the dark elves, who are like the faeries of the Unseelie Court. Tolkien depicted elves in a specific way, but their characterization in folktales is more diverse. Depending on the region, they are sometimes smaller and sometimes more human. They can be mischievous or dangerous.
On the subject of fairy/faerie - K. Briggs, in an Encyclopedia of Fairies, writes that the term fairie has only come into fashion recently. The earlier noun was fay. Fay-erie was "a state of enchantment or glamour" that later came to mean, as well, the fays who used such powers. Fairy is now used to mean Anglo-Saxon and Scandanavian elves, the Dauine Sidhe of the Highlands, the Tuatha de Danann of Ireland, etc. etc. I think Liz is right that some modern writers want to make a distinction between the diminutive sweet, Victorian or Disney type fairies and the older, powerful, more diverse fairies of folklore, the fay or faeries.
Just a few thoughts.
Laura Mc
Edited by: Laura McCaffrey at: 2/13/03 4:35:55 pm
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flamebrain00
Registered User
(2/15/03 4:18:38 pm)
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Re: Fairy/Fae
Thanks, guys. That clears it up for me. I was really curious about the differences between the two and the various ways elves are portrayed in fiction - some authors portray them as more helpful and/or friendly than others.
~flamebrain
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