"fairy," OED 4a

[George Thompson]

There were 2 different simultaneous publications of Macaulay's edition
of Gower:
The English Works of John Gower. Ed. from the manuscripts, with
introduction, notes, and glossary. By G.C. Macaulay ... London, Pub. for
the Early English Text Society by K. Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., ltd.,
1900-01.   2 vols.  Early English Text Society. Extra series;  no. 81- 82.
The Complete Works of John Gower. Edited from the manuscripts, with
introductions, notes, and glossaries, by G. C. Macaulay. Oxford,
Clarendon Press, 1899-1902.  4 vols.  This includes the stuff he wrote
in French and Latin; vols. 2 & 3 are identical with the EETS vols.

There is a recent edition:
Confessio Amantis, by John Gower; edited by Russell A. Peck, with Latin
translations by Andrew Galloway.  Kalamazoo, MI: Published for TEAMS
(The Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages) in association with
the University of Rochester by Medieval Institute Publications, Western
Michigan University, 2000-200?.  3 vols.  Tehre had been an edition of
this in 1 vol. in 1980.

The index to the EETS set says that Gower used the word "fairy" four
times in Confessio:
Book 2, line 964.  EETS vol. 1, p. 173; Peck, vol. 2, p. 81
Book 2, line 1593.  EETS vol. 1, p. 156; Peck, vol. 2, p. 97
Book 5, line 5003.  EETS vol. 2, p. 83; Peck, vol. 3, p. 145
Book 5, line 7073.  EETS vol. 2, p. 371; Peck, vol. 3, p. 191
These editions are all annotated, but none have anything useful for
explaining what "fairy" might have meant.
There is an anthology of the collected footnotes to John Gower:
An Annotated Index to the Commentary on John Gower's Confessio Amantis,
by Peter Nicholson.  Binghamton, N.Y. : Medieval & Renaissance Texts &
Studies, 1989.  593 pp.  It has nothing useful on this question.
Nearly 40 years in the librarian's racket has left me with a rather
desponding view of the world, but evidently not desponding enough.  I
had thought that at least the Gower collection I've assembled for the
library here would be safe from depredation, but not so.  There is a
concordance to the Confessio, but our copy has been stolen:
A Concordance to John Gower's Confessio Amantis, edited by J.D. Pickles
and J.L. Dawson.  Woodbridge, Suffolk & Wolfeboro, N.H.: D.S. Brewer,
1987.  1124 pp.

Several other critical studies of Gower have also been stolen.  Poking
around the remnants of the collection, I noted one study with room in
its index for a reference to Al Capone.  I didn't look it up; it would
undoubtedly be a disappointment, and I would rather dream of the sadly
yet-unwritten dissertation about the influence of John Gower on the
moral thought of Al Capone.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU>
Date: Sunday, January 21, 2007 10:53 am
Subject: Re: "fairy," OED 4a

> Not to belabor this matter, but here's the entry in the ME
> Dictionary (cut-and-pasted; I don't know how the runes will look on
> screen!):
>
> faire (n.) Also faierie, feiri(e, farie.
>
> [OF faerie.]
>
> 1.
>
> (a) The country or home of supernatural or legendary creatures;
> also, a land of such creatures; (b) coll. such creatures; (c) such
> a creature.
>
> (a)  c1330(?c1300) Reinbrun (Auch)   p.659:  Hit is a kni3tes of
> fayri, And al þis forest her-by.  c1330 Orfeo (Auch)   562:  Out of
> þe lond of fairy.  (a1393) Gower CA (Frf 3)   5.7073:  An hauk..as
> he were of faierie, He scheweth him tofore here yhe.  (c1395)
> Chaucer CT.Mch.(Manly-Rickert)   E.2227:  Pluto that is kyng of
> fairye.  ?1435(1432) Lydg. Hen.VI Entry (Jul B.2)   366:  Twoo olde
> men..dydde appere lyke ffolkes off ffeyrye.  a1500(?a1400) Chestre
> Launfal (Clg A.2)   280:  Here fadyr was kyng of fayrye Of Occient.
> a1500(?a1400) Chestre Launfal (Clg A.2)   1035:  Þus Launfal..Was
> take yn to fayrye: Seþþe saw hym yn þis lond no man.
>
> (b)  a1375 WPal.(KC 13)   230:  Þemperour wend witerly for wonder
> of þat child, þat fei3þely it were of feyrye.  (a1393) Gower CA
> (Frf 3)   2.964:  Thi wif, which is of faierie.  (c1395) Chaucer
> CT.Mch.(Manly-Rickert)   E.2039:  Proserpina and al hir fairye.
> a1500(?c1450) Merlin (Cmb Ff.3.11)   638:  I trowe verily that it
> be som fende, or of feire, that thus hath hir disceived.  a1500
> Orfeo (Hrl 3810)   10:  Sum [lays] þer ben of the feyre.
>
> (c)  (c1395) Chaucer CT.WB.(Manly-Rickert)   D.872:  This maketh
> that ther been no fairyes.  c1425(a1420) Lydg. TB (Aug A.4)
> 4.5586:  Þer cam doun from þe hi3e heuene..Like a fairy a
> merueillous ymage.  c1450(c1440) Scrope Othea (StJ-C H.5)   66:
> Galatee, the which was a fayrye.  ?a1500 Lndsb.Nominale (Lndsb)
> 802:  Hic antepos, hec lamea: ffayery.
>
> --Charlie
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