The origin of the word “fairy” has a few explanations. Some believe it is based on the word fatum or fata, which is Latin for “fate(s)”, which was also the name of the Roman deities present at a child’s birth. Others say “fairy” comes from faer which means “to enchant” in French. And still others say that “fairy” is an abbreviation of “Fair Folk”, one of the common nicknames for the Sidhe or Sith.

Records of fairy encounters and written stories with fairies date back to at least the 1200s. In stories, they range in size from 14 feet tall (4.2 meters), to eight inches (20 centimeters), to small enough to hide inside a flower. They could be found in wild, natural places like lakes, rivers, forests and mountains. Some had wings and some did not. One of the earliest references to fairies having wings is from 1717. But it wasn’t until the Victorian era (1837-1901) that the idea of fairies as small, winged creatures was popularized.

As cities grew, and wild places shrank, belief in fairies waned. In The Canterbury Tales (1387), Geoffrey Chaucer writes that the time of “fayerye” was “manye hundred yeres ago” — suggesting fairies could no longer be found... and yet we still write down their stories.