Seelie

Last updated

Seelie is a term for fairies in Scottish folklore, appearing in the form of seely wights or The Seelie Court. The Northern and Middle English word seely (also seily, seelie, sealy), and the Scots form seilie, mean "happy", "lucky" or "blessed." [1] Despite their name, the seelie folk of legend could be morally ambivalent and dangerous. Calling them "seelie," similar to names such as "good neighbors," may have been a euphemism to ward off their anger. [2] [3]

Contents

Etymology

The word derives from the Old English sǣl and gesǣlig and the Proto-West Germanic *sālīg (“blissful, happy”). The Modern Standard English word "silly" is also derived from this root.

The antonym, unseely (also unsall, [4] unsell [5] ) means "unhappy", "misfortunate" or "unholy."

Seelie wights

Many Scottish ballads and tales tell of "Seilie wichts" or "wights," meaning blessed beings. [1] Julian Goodare theorized that these were legendary nature spirits, similar to but distinct from fairies. Goodare additionally hypothesized that there was a sixteenth-century shamanistic cult centering around these beings, comparable to the Italian Benandanti and donas de fuera. One of the earliest pieces of evidence comes from the sixteenth-century theologian William Hay, who complained of witches and local pagans claiming to meet with fairy-like women called "celly vichtys." The name is also similar to the Swiss-German "Sälïgen Lütt." [3]

Seelie and Unseelie courts

The Seelie Court is a group of fairies, often specified as good fairies who contrast with the wicked Unseelie Court. [6] As described by British folklorist Katharine Mary Briggs, the Seelie Court were those fairies who would seek help from humans, warn those who have accidentally offended them, and return human kindness with favors of their own. Still, a fairy belonging to this court would avenge insults and could be prone to mischief. They gathered in courts or troupes. [7]

Conversely, the Unseelie Court were the darkly-inclined fairies who would attack without provocation. Briggs equated the Unseelie fey with the Sluagh (who abducted travelers at night and fired elf-shot) as well as the shellycoat, nuckelavee, redcaps, baobhan sith, and various other wicked fairies from English, Scottish and Irish lore. [8] . Though the Edinburgh Magazine [9] calls them the 'Unseelie Court', Briggs does not use this term.

The "seely court" is mentioned in the ballad of "Allison Gross," where they play a benevolent role. [10] "Allison Gross" was recorded from Anne or Anna Gorden of Aberdeen, Scotland, sometime around 1783. [11] [12] The seely court is also named in at least one fragmentary version of "Tam Lin," where they are more negative figures. [13]

Welsh folklore

A possible equivalent to the Scottish "seelie" appears in the Welsh "sili," used in some individual fairy names. In a Welsh tale, "Sili go Dwt" was the name of a Rumpelstiltskin-like fairy whose name had to be guessed. [14] In a possibly related fragmentary story, a fairy woman was heard singing the words "sili ffrit" while she spun thread. Sir John Rhys found that "sili ffrit" was sometimes used as a term for a child of the Tywlyth Teg or for anything small. [15]

Rhys proposed that "sili" came from the English "silly" (in this sense meaning happy) and "ffrit" from "fright," thus a term for a ghost. The term would have come to Wales via the Welsh marches. He also suggested that "Sili go Dwt" was a corruption of English fairy names featuring the syllable "tot" (such as Tom Tit Tot). [16]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairy</span> Mythical being or legendary creature in European folklore

A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, generally described as anthropomorphic, found in the folklore of multiple European cultures, a form of spirit, often with metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural qualities.

A hobgoblin is a household spirit, appearing in English folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his A Midsummer Night's Dream as a hobgoblin.

Fairies, particularly those of Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh folklore, have been classified in a variety of ways. Classifications – which most often come from scholarly analysis, and may not always accurately reflect local traditions – typically focus on behavior or physical characteristics.

The redcap is a type of malevolent, murderous goblin found in Border folklore. He is said to inhabit ruined castles along the Anglo-Scottish border, especially those that were the scenes of tyranny or wicked deeds and is known for soaking his cap in the blood of his victims. He is also known as Redcomb and Bloody Cap.

Fairyland (Early Modern English: Faerie; Scots: Elfame in English and Scottish folklore is the fabulous land or abode of fairies or fays. Old French faierie referred to an illusion or enchantment, the land of the faes. Modern English fairy transferred the name of the realm of the fays to its inhabitants, e.g., the expression fairie knight in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene refers to a "supernatural knight" or a "knight of Faerie" but was later re-interpreted as referring to a knight who is "a fairy".

Habetrot is a figure in folklore of the Border counties of Northern England and Lowland Scotland, associated with spinning and the spinning wheel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Each-uisge</span> Water spirit in Scottish folklore

The each-uisge is a water spirit in Irish and Scottish folklore, spelled as the each-uisce in Ireland and cabbyl-ushtey on the Isle of Man. It usually takes the form of a horse, and is similar to the kelpie but far more vicious.

"Allison Gross" is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad #35. It tells the story of "the ugliest witch in the north country" who tries to persuade a man to become her lover and then punishes him by a transformation.

Katharine Mary Briggs was a British folklorist and writer, who wrote The Anatomy of Puck, the four-volume A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language, and various other books on fairies and folklore. From 1969 to 1972, she was president of the Folklore Society, which established an award in her name to commemorate her life and work.

The Water Leaper, also known as Llamhigyn Y Dwr, is an evil creature from Welsh folklore that lived in swamps and ponds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Blind</span> Song

Billy Blind is an English and Lowland Scottish household spirit, much like a brownie. He appears only in ballads, where he frequently advises the characters. It is possible that the character of Billy Blind is a folk memory of the god Woden or Odin from Germanic mythology, in his "more playful aspect" and is speculated to have been the same character as Blind Harie, the "blind man of the game" in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glashtyn</span> Legendary creature from Manx folklore

Glashtyn is a legendary creature from Manx folklore.

Whippitie Stourie is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Robert Chambers in Popular Rhymes of Scotland. It is Aarne-Thompson type 500, The Name of the Helper. This categorizes it with Rumpelstiltskin.

<span title="Middle Welsh-language text"><i lang="wlm">Tylwyth Teg</i></span> Mythological creature in Welsh folklore

Tylwyth Teg is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of Welsh and Irish folklore Aos Sí. Other names for them include Bendith y Mamau, Gwyllion and Ellyllon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brownie (folklore)</span> Household spirit in Scottish folklore

A brownie or broonie (Scots), also known as a brùnaidh or gruagach, is a household spirit or Hobgoblin from Scottish folklore that is said to come out at night while the owners of the house are asleep and perform various chores and farming tasks. The human owners of the house must leave a bowl of milk or cream or some other offering for the brownie, usually by the hearth. Brownies are described as easily offended and will leave their homes forever if they feel they have been insulted or in any way taken advantage of. Brownies are characteristically mischievous and are often said to punish or pull pranks on lazy servants. If angered, they are sometimes said to turn malicious, like boggarts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hag</span> Stock character; a wizened old woman, often a malicious witch

A hag is a wizened old woman, or a kind of fairy or goddess having the appearance of such a woman, often found in folklore and children's tales such as "Hansel and Gretel". Hags are often seen as malevolent, but may also be one of the chosen forms of shapeshifting deities, such as The Morrígan or Badb, who are seen as neither wholly benevolent nor malevolent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairy Queen</span> Figure from Irish and British folklore, believed to rule the fairies

In folklore and literature, the Fairy Queen or Queen of the Fairies is a female ruler of the fairies, sometimes but not always paired with a king. Depending on the work, she may be named or unnamed; Titania and Mab are two frequently used names. Numerous characters, goddesses or folkloric spirits worldwide have been labeled as Fairy Queens.

In the folklore on the Anglo-Scottish border, the Brown Man of the Muirs is a dwarf who serves as a guardian spirit of wild animals. Also is a Folklore story, called "Brown Man of the Moor" in the Richardson's Table Book in the 19 century according to Publications of the Folklore Society of North England, where appear the creatures: boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins and brown men.

Sleih beggey is the umbrella term for Manx fairies.

References

  1. 1 2 "SND: Seil". Dsl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  2. ↑ Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. Pantheon Books. pp. xi.
  3. 1 2 Goodare, Julian (2012). "The Cult of the Seely Wights in Scotland". Folklore. 123 (2): 198–219. doi:10.1080/0015587X.2012.682483. ISSN   0015-587X. JSTOR   41721541. S2CID   161104856.
  4. ↑ Dunbar, William (1860). The Life and Poems of William Dunbar. W. P. Nimmo. p. 295.
  5. ↑ Lindsay, David (1879). The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay, Volume 2. W. Patterson. p. 305.
  6. ↑ "On Good and Bad Fairies". Edinburgh Magazine. 5: 16–19. 1819.
  7. ↑ Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. Pantheon Books. p. 353.
  8. ↑ Briggs, Katharine Mary (1976). An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures. Pantheon Books. pp. 419–420.
  9. ↑ "On Good and Bad Fairies". Edinburgh Magazine. 5: 16–19. 1819.
  10. ↑ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, "Allison Gross"
  11. ↑ Kekäläinen, Kirsti (1983). Aspects of Style and Language in Child's Collection of English and Scottish Popular Ballads. Suomalainen tiedeakatemia. ISBN   9789514104589.
  12. ↑ Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society: Papers, 1890-95. Edinburgh Bibliographical Society. 1896.
  13. ↑ Child, Francis James, ed. (1890). Tam Lin. Vol. I Part 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin and Company. pp. 507–508. Retrieved 2017-11-19.{{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  14. ↑ Thomas, William Jenkyn (1907). The Welsh Fairy-book. T.F. Unwin. pp. 178–179. ISBN   9787250005481.
  15. ↑ Rhys, John (1901). Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, Volume 1. Clarendon Press. pp. 64–66.
  16. ↑ Rhys, John (1901). Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, Volume 2. Clarendon Press. pp. 590–593.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.