It’s been a busy week but I’m here again and it’s still Thursday for a few more hours. I was planning on starting a series of posts on the Legends of Camelot but I didn’t leave myself enough time. I guess my trashing of Lancelot can wait a bit longer. Instead I grabbed a random book and flicked through a few pages. The book is ‘Dragons, Little People, Fairies, Trolls and Elves by Edouard Brasey. It’s a beautiful book even if I have lost the dust cover and a lot of the pages are dog eared.

While flicking through my eyes caught one heading that read ‘The origin of faeries’. Now I thought that looks interesting. When I’m reading a book I tend to get a feel for it whith how they refer to the faeries. If I see fairy I expect it to be a little winged being flitting about maybe causing mischief. For faery or faerie I want to see the courts. Both winter and summer fighting for power. But when it comes to the fae I looking for massive power plays, life and death struggles between the light and the dark with the fate of the world at stake.

Now according to this book the word faery comes from the Latin word Fata which means the Fates. Now the Fates were the most powerful of the gods. Sure they didn’t have awesome adventures or fought in any battles, but everyone, mortal or god was bound by the threads they wove or spun depending on the pantheon. I can’t see little winged creatures being named after the Fates but I can see the fae being their distant child. The power they revel in, and the way they toy with mortal lives as if part of a game. Yeah, I can see them as a child of the Fates.

Fata the book also says means fairy in Italian. I’m not sure about that as I don’t speak Italian and I’m too lazy to google a translation.

Fairies could just be a modern take on the nature spirits, nymphs and dryads that fill the pages of mythology. Maybe the reason the legends have them playing tricks on humans or stealing them away is because they were sick and tired of the gods using them as play things in their previous incarnations.

As a final thought you have spring, summer , autumn/fall and winter faeries so why only a winter and summer court?