What is a fay?
Fay is an old word for the fairies of European folklore. The source of the English word “fairy,” it broadly means beings who live in a world apart from humans and have mysterious powers. In modern fantasy, “fay” or “fae” is also used for the fairy folk as a race.
Origin of the word
Fay is said to come from the Latin word for “fate” or “the goddesses of fate,” becoming the Old French word for “fairy.” The image of fairies who foretell a newborn child’s fate or bestow gifts lives on in the fairies of Perrault’s fairy tale Sleeping Beauty. From this came the word “fairy,” meaning the land where fairies live or magic itself.
Fays in Arthurian legend
Morgan le Fay (“Morgan the fairy”), the sorceress of Arthurian legend, is portrayed, as her name suggests, as a woman with fairy powers. In medieval romances, fays often appear as beautiful women of great magical power who fall in love with humans or lure knights into the otherworld.
