THE ELIZABETHAN FAIRIES

ORIGIN AND NATURE 5 3
piled 1440, defines elf as " spyryt, lamia, -e; fem "; the
Catholicon Anglicum of 1483,'~ " an Elfe; lamia,
eumenis, dicta Ab eu, quod est bonum, & mene, defectus " ;
(the word fairy is not given in either book) ; the
Vulgaria 92 of Horman, 1519, renders " The fayre hath
chaunged my chylde," " Strix, vel lamia pro meo suum
paruulum, supposuit."
Although the Bibliotheca Eliotae of I532 makes elfes
or fayries the English equivalent of nymphae, naides,
dryades and hamadryades (all feminine gender), the
terms an elfe, the fairie, and ladies of the fayry are to
be found among the definitions of Larva, Strix and
Lamiae :
Larua, ae, f.g. and Laruae, arum, plur. a spirite, whyche ap-
pereth in the nyght tyme. some call it a hegge. some a goblyn.
some a goste or an elfe. also a masker, or he that weareth a visour.
also the visour it selfe.
Strix, strigis, fae. ge. a shricheoule, a witche that chaungeth
the fauour of children, the hegge or fairie.
Lamiae, be women, whyche beholdying chyldren, or geuynge to
them gyftes, doo altier the forme of theym: whyche children be
afterwarde called elfes, or taken with the fayrie, and some suche
women will sucke the bloud from chyldren. They be also those,
whiche be called ladies of the fayry, whyche dooe allure yong men
to company carnally with theym: and after that they bee consumed
in the acte of lecherye, they coucte to deuoure thej~m.'~
In A Worlde of Wordes 94 by John Florio, 1598, in
91 E. E. T. S. ed., 1881.
92 Catholicon Anglicum, E. E. T. S., 1881, note p. 113. It is sig-
nificant that in nearly every case in which the fairies are used in the
dictionaries, they are identified by wicked and cruel characteristics.
93 Bibl. Eliotae, L ante A, and S ante T.
94 Pages 197 and 401-402. Larva according to Florio is defined as
" a vizard, or a maske, a vision, a night-ghost, a hag, a spirit, a hob-
goblin, a walking or appearing spirit."-p. 198. " Fata, a fairie, a
witch, an enchantres, an elfe." -p. 127.
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