Fairy Names and Euphemisms

Fairy, Faery or Faerie, however you spell it they are all accepted terms for the Fae. However traditionally it was thought unwise to refer to the Fae by actually as faeries as this would anger them – instead people used a variety of alternative names or euphemisms when talking about them.
For example:

Fair Family/Fair Folk
The Good Folk/Good Neighbours/Good People
The Green Men
Little People/Wee Folk
Lordly Ones/The Gentry
The Old People
Pharisees/Farisees/Feriers/Ferishers (Suffolk)
Frairies (Norfolk/Suffolk)
Fary (Northumberland)
Greencoaties (Lincolnshire)
Tylwyth Teg (Welsh ‘Fair Family’, though could also refer to a particular type of Faery)
Verry Volk (Wales)
The Grey Neighbors/Henkies (Shetland/Orkney names for Trows)
Klippe (Forfarshire, Scotland)
Li’l Fellas (Manx)
Sleigh Beggey (Manx language version of ‘Little Folk’)
People of Peace/Still-Folk (Highlands)
Wights (Anglo-Saxon)

Most areas in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales had regional names, and this is before we even got onto other countries! Things get confusing too when names begin to describe a particular type of Faerie as well as Faeries in general. Take Elves as an example, which used to be interchangeable with Faerie but now generally means either Norse or Teutonic faeries (or Santa’s little helpers depending on your inclinations!).
The word Faerie too is complex, again being an umbrella term Faerie creatures as well as the land of Faerie. Fairy is generally thought to mean the gossamer winged children’s fairies, but it is also an umbrella term like Faerie. The origins of both spellings are said to come from the Latin Fata (Fate) or French Fée. Fae-eerie, or state of enchantment gives us Faerie or Fairy.

Filed under Faerylore | Comments (2)