Dear editors:
I noticed Sylvana SilverWitch's frequent use of the term "the fey" in her interview. Since she is publisher of Widdershins I assume this is the spelling she intended. My Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language defines "fey" as:
The word is derived from the Old English fæge, meaning "fated," and is related to "feud" and "foe." No noun form is given, but the meaning of the collective noun "the fey" would be "those fated to die," or "the strange or eccentric ones."
Sylvana does not define her use of the term the "fey," but she does not seem to be referring to people doomed to sudden death - or even by extension spirits of the dead - nor to strange people or people behaving in a strange way. The word she actually seems to want is "fay," which is simply an alternate version of "fairy." My dictionary gives it only a singular (a fairy), not as a collective plural (the fairies). Its origin is essentially the same as "fey," but traces back through Old French rather than Old English to the Latin fatum, meaning "fate."
I suspect the use of "fey" as if it were an alternate spelling of "fay" is largely due to the association of the latter word with gay men. It's the same reason for the popularity of spelling "fairy" as "faery." The primary meaning of "faery/faerie" is "fairyland," a place where fairies live," but the meaning has been extended (apparently by Edmund Spenser) from the place to the people who live there. Again my dictionary gives it only as a singular (a fairy), but on the example of "Jewry" - which also began as the name of a place (where Jews live) and became the name of a people - one could reasonably use "Faery" as a collective plural.
Equating "fey" and "fay" is simply wrong. The English language is always changing, but it is a sad and useless change that deprives us of an excellent word for which there is no single synonym and gives us instead yet a fourth alternate spelling of 'fairy." I realize Sylvana and her colleagues in the Sylvan Tradition are not going to change their wicked ways merely because of this brilliant and erudite letter, but I can never seem to resist trying to interest people in the nuances of our delightful English language. I'm peculiar that way. You might even say fey.
P.S. All the research for this letter came straight from my Webster's New World - nothing heavy-duty. I lust for the Oxford English Dictionary, but it's far beyond my means. I'm trying to scrape up enough for the Shorter OED. When that happens, look out! The Avenger of the English Language will have a weapon worthy of her sacred mission. Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!
Jana Hollingsworth
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Dear Sylvana,
Enclosed is a copy of my previous letter, which you wished to publish but lost. Although it is no longer quite current, I would be pleased if you would publish it, since it may prevent others from making the same error that you persist in making.
It's not a matter of literary sensibilities, but of making the effort to be right. Your use of the word "fey" is wrong. Period. When I discover a mistake in my practice, I correct it. You're willing to continue in a simple error that can be corrected by reference to any dictionary; who knows how many other careless mistakes are perpetuated in your tradition? If you can't trouble yourself to be accurate about the small stuff, why should anyone trust you with the big stuff?
And by the way, what compliments? (Editors' note: We mistakenly thanked Ms. Hollingsworth for compliments she did not make.) In my letter I restrained my usual sarcasm (which was difficult), edited out all the snide remakes and kept my criticism to a single issue, but I gave no compliments. I suppose for those used to my usual style, such self control seems to count as complimentary.
Jana Hollingsworth
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Dearest Jana,
I want to thank you for your concern and care for and about the language we speak in this country. I was reminded by the Chiefs of the British Druid Order, visiting here last week from Great Britain, that we don't speak "English" at all, we speak American!
As you so kindly indicated in your first letter, one of the definitions of "fey" is strange, unusual, puckish, otherworldly, whimsical, eccentric and visionary. All of these descriptions are correct in describing the "fey" I am familiar with and have known since childhood.
Also, as I suggested previously - I am distinguishing between various things commonly called "fairy," including gay men, Tinkerbelle and other popular portrayals not representative of the Fey Kingdom I perceive (which includes much, much more than fairies). As you admitted in your first letter, the language is constantly changing; our use of "fey" is intentional, not a mistake.
There is an old and venerable tradition in the English language of meaning pretty much whatever you want by a word. Take buxom for example (it started off meaning obedient). Or thing (originally a town meeting). Diderot, the encyclopedists and generations of schoolteachers notwithstanding, this anarchic tradition is still alive and well. In the case at hand, whether we spell them fay, fey, fae, faie, fée, faye, or ylfe, I assert you know whom we mean.
However, not to dismiss your erudition too lightly, it's pretty interesting to consider just how many different things people used to mean by the word fay or fey. Pulling down the Oxford English Dictionary, you can risk a hernia to discover that the meaning we intend, that of fairy, is a relative latecomer, slipping over from the French around 1300 (in French, incidentally, fée is a feminine noun, and les fées were generally considered to be female).
In older English usage, a fay or fey could be any of the following:
An adversary or mortal enemy (foe).
A person's liver.
A feudal estate (fee).
A warrior's share of the spoils.
A bribe.
A religious belief (faith).
An authority.
A promise.
As a verb, to fay or to fey meant:
To clean, clear away.
To shovel out (a ditch).
To polish.
To fit or fit together with.
To adapt to.
To match, suit.
As an adjective, fay or fey could mean:
Fated to die.
Doomed to death.
Accursed, unlucky.
Leading to or presaging death.
Feeble, sickly, weak.
Timid.
So why don't we use a venerable old word like ylfe, which seems so much less burdened with strange associations than fey? Could we be a little perverse? Why on earth is that? What, and stubborn too?
We at Widdershins regret that you don't have an OED. However, though I'm glad that you've appointed yourself the "Avenger of the English Language," you may want to inquire into more than one source in the future. In the world outside the dictionary, we encountered our spelling (fey), used to describe the same beings, in many perfectly respectable places, including a book with the title The Fey.
Obviously being "right" in this sense is profoundly significant to you; it's not nearly as consequential to us. The "fay" or "fey" don't call themselves either. It is just as much our term for something we personally experience as anything else, and as such is valid.
You complimented us (the Sylvan Tradition) on our "wicked ways," and it is a compliment that you read Widdershins carefully enough to discover this difference in terms. Sorry if you didn't intend this close read as a compliment; we took it as such.
I fear no matter what you mey sey about the errors of our weys, we'll stey with fey.
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