"fairy," OED 4a

[Wilson Gray]

Very interesting, fun thread, y'all. I dug it.

-Wilson

On 1/18/07, Charles Doyle <cdoyle at uga.edu> wrote:
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> Poster:       Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "fairy," OED 4a
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The same possible ambiguity or confusion as to whether the "of" in Gower's phrase points to a place, a population, a substance, or a condition is paralleled in the first book of _The Faerie Queene_, where the comparable ambiguity is quite deliberate on Spenser's part (I'm sure).
>
> The Red Cross Knight, a foundling, has assumed (like everyone else) that he is a fairy. In canto 10, however, it's revealed to him that he is human, destined to become St. George of merry England.  That is, he is a "man of earth," as the seer atop Mt. Contemplation informs him (playing on the name "George").  RCK hails from earth; he is of earthly kind; his body is compounded of earth; his quest is earthly (he must be warned against abandoning knightly deeds to adopt of spiritual life).
>
> --Charlie
> __________________________________________________
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:44:12 -0800
> >From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >Subject: Re: "fairy," OED 4a
> >To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> >
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> >Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
> >Subject:      Re: "fairy," OED 4a
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >I can't add anything to Doug's analysis.  Tolkien's larger point was that _fairy_ (as a creature) is rare in writing before the 17th C.
> >
> >  JL
> >
> >"Douglas G. Wilson" <douglas at NB.NET> wrote:
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> >Poster: "Douglas G. Wilson"
> >Subject: Re: "fairy," OED 4a
> >-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >>But by saying he is "of faerie," couldn't that also mean he was of the
> >>faerie people or of the faerie, using faerie as a race or type of creature
> >>and not a place name?
> >
> >It is possible, I think. In this case, the citation should be under sense
> >2: "A collective term for the fays or inhabitants of fairyland ....".
> >
> >However, I think it seems superficially likely that the citation with "of
> >faerie" exemplifies sense 1: "The land or home of the fays; fairy-land.
> >.... see FAERIE."
> >
> >Or it might could go well under "faerie", sense 1: "The realm or world of
> >the fays or fairies;fairyland, fairydom (cf. FAIRY _sb._ 1)." It would be
> >by far the earliest example here.
> >
> >In the case of an abstract or imaginary "place" such as Faerie, it may be
> >particularly difficult to perfectly distinguish these senses, I think. For
> >comparison, it is not hard to find discussions of whether Hell is a place
> >or a condition.
> >
> >As they say about changelings: "You can take the child out of Faerie, but
> >you can't take Faerie out of the child." (^_^)
> >
> >[I use my poor-man's photoreduced OED. I do not have a copy of the Gower
> >work handy.]
> >
> >But -- IMHO -- it would seem that ... if the passage really does have "of
> >faerie" ... (1) it should read "of" in the OED and not "a"; and (2) it
> >probably should not appear under sense 4, which refers to the individual
> >fairy ("One of a class ...").
> >
> >I wonder whether there were different editions or versions of the source work.
> >
> >-- Doug Wilson
> >
> >
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