"fairy," OED 4a

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>Regardless of the correct text in Gower, isn't the Wife of Bath's Tale a
>valid use of fairy in this sense?  "This maketh that ther ben no fayeryes."

I think it might be. But there is/was another countable "fairy" used during
the same period: OED sense 3: "magical contrivance"/etc. This also would
fit here, I think, meaning essentially "enchantment". Difficult to
distinguish between these possibilities here (at least for me). I wonder
what the OED editors think/thought.

-- Doug Wilson


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