Seelie

The word derives from the Old English {{lang|ang|sǣl}} and {{lang|ang|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,{{Cite book |last=Dunbar |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uC5YAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22unsall+menyie%22+dunbar&pg=PA295 |title=The Life and Poems of William Dunbar |publisher=W. P. Nimmo |year=1860 |pages=295}} unsell{{Cite book |last=Lindsay |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X1gJAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22an+unsell+begat%2C%22&pg=PA305 |title=The Poetical Works of Sir David Lyndsay, Volume 2 |publisher=W. Patterson |year=1879 |pages=305}}) means "unhappy", "misfortunate" or "unholy."

Many Scottish ballads and tales tell of "Seilie wichts" or "wights," meaning blessed beings. 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 doñas 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."

The Seelie Court is a group of fairies, often specified as good fairies who contrast with the wicked Unseelie Court.{{Cite journal |date=1819 |title=On Good and Bad Fairies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NsEAAAAQAAJ&dq=unseelie&pg=PA16 |journal=Edinburgh Magazine |volume=5 |pages=16–19}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Katharine Mary |title=An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1976 |pages=353}}

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.{{Cite book |last=Briggs |first=Katharine Mary |title=An Encyclopedia of Fairies, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Boogies, and Other Supernatural Creatures |publisher=Pantheon Books |year=1976 |pages=419–420}} Though the Edinburgh Magazine{{Cite journal |date=1819 |title=On Good and Bad Fairies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NsEAAAAQAAJ&dq=unseelie&pg=PA16 |journal=Edinburgh Magazine |volume=5 |pages=16–19}} 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.Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, [http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch035.htm "Allison Gross"] "Allison Gross" was recorded from Anne or Anna Gorden of Aberdeen, Scotland, sometime around 1783.{{cite book |last=Kekäläinen |first=Kirsti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jrXAAAAMAAJ&q=%22robert+eden+scott%22 |title=Aspects of Style and Language in Child's Collection of English and Scottish Popular Ballads |year=1983 |publisher=Suomalainen tiedeakatemia |isbn=9789514104589 |language=en}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AiJFAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Allison+Gross%22+Brown+1783 |title=Publications of the Edinburgh Bibliographical Society: Papers, 1890-95 |publisher=Edinburgh Bibliographical Society |year=1896}} The seely court is also named in at least one fragmentary version of "Tam Lin," where they are more negative figures.{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/stream/englishscottishp02chil#page/507/mode/2up |title=Tam Lin |work=English and Scottish Popular Ballads |publisher=Houghton Mifflin and Company |year=1890 |editor-last=Child |editor-first=Francis James |volume=I Part 2 |location=Boston |pages=507–508 |access-date=2017-11-19}}

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.{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=William Jenkyn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fII2AQAAMAAJ&dq=%22Is+your+name+Sili+go+Dwt%2C+by+any+chance%22&pg=PA179 |title=The Welsh Fairy-book |publisher=T.F. Unwin |year=1907 |pages=178–179|isbn=9787250005481 }} 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.{{Cite book |last=Rhys |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kyTaAAAAMAAJ |title=Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, Volume 1 |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1901 |pages=64–66}}

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).{{Cite book |last=Rhys |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASXaAAAAMAAJ |title=Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx, Volume 2 |publisher=Clarendon Press |year=1901 |pages=590–593}}

• Classifications of Fairies

Category:Fairies

Category:Scottish folklore

Category:Fantasy worlds

{{Fairies}}{{Scottish mythology}}