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Definitions & Etymology

Banshee   Deva   Elf   Elementals   Faerie   Fairy   Fairy Ring   Fairy Tales   Gnomes
   Leprechauns   Pixies   The Púca   Salamanders  Sylphs  Trooping Fairies  The Tuatha Dé Danann  Undines

Banshee

From the Irish bean sí ("woman of the sídhe" or "woman of the fairy mound") is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. Her Scottish counterpart is the Bean Nighe ("washer-woman").

According to tradition, the banshee can only cry for five major Irish families: the O'Neills, the O'Briens, the O'Connors, the O'Gradys and the Kavanaghs.

The sídhe are variously believed to be the survivals of pre-Christian Gaelic deities, spirits of nature, or the ancestors. Some Theosophists and Celtic Christians have also referred to the sídhe as "fallen angels". They are commonly referred to in English as "fairies", and the banshee can also be described as a "fairy woman". 

Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase & Fable: Seventeenth Edition (Brewer'S ...)  

Deva

Nature Devas are responsible for things as fire, air, rain and trees. Higher devas control much more intricate tasks governing the functioning of the cosmos and the evolution of creation.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Deva-"god, good spirit" in Hindu religion, from Skt (Sansktit). deva "a god," originally "a shining one," from *div- "to shine," thus cognate with Gk (Greek) . dios "divine" and Zeus, and L. deus "god" (O.Latin deivos). Fem. form devi is used for "goddess," also (with capital D-) for the mother goddess in Hinduism. Hence, also, devadasi "temple dancing girl," lit. "female servant of a god," from dasi "slave girl." Also Devanagari, the formal alphabet of Skt. (Sansktit) writings, perhaps originally "divine city script," from nagara "city."  The Online Etymological Dictionary

Elf

(plural, Elves, Anglo-Saxon, oelf).  Properly, a mountain fay, but more loosely applied to those airy creatures that dance on the grass or sit in the leaves of trees and delight in the full moon. They have fair golden hair, sweet musical voices, and magic harps. They have a king and queen, marry and are given in marriage. They impersonate the shimmering of the air, the felt but indefinable melody of Nature, and all the little prettinesses which a lover of the country sees, or thinks he sees, in hill and dale, copse and meadow, grass and tree, river and moonlight. Spenser says that Prometheus called the man he made "Elfe," who found a maid in the garden of Adonis, whom he called "Fay," of "whom all Fayres spring." 

Brewer's Dictionary Of Phrase & Fable: Seventeenth Edition (Brewer'S ...)

Elementals

 "In mysticism, mythology and alchemy, an elemental is a creature (usually a spirit) that is attuned with, or composed of, one of the classical elements: air, earth, fire and water. The elements balance each other out through opposites: water quenches fire, fire boils water, earth contains air, air erodes earth. The concept of elementals seems to have been conceived by Paracelsus (1493-1541), a Swiss  alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist."

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia.

Faerie

1590, var. of fairy, probably existing in Medieval English , but first attested in Spenser's "Faery Queene," where he used it in his own sense, to mean "the realm of fairies," in a dignified and poetic sense divorced from the common folk tales. 

The Online Etymological Dictionary

Fairy

"A fairy, faerie, fairie or faery, is a creature from stories and mythology. Faeries can obtain any form with a special ability called "glamour" that can change or enhance the body's structure or to hide faery-like qualities from mortal eyes. This word is derived from the name of a place where they were said to live: Faerie, and fairies are sometimes called fairy-folk. The myth appears commonplace across many diverse cultures and traditions. They have many names and many forms." 

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Fairy - c.1300, "enchantment, magic," from Old French faerie "land of fairies, meeting of fairies, enchantment, magic," from fae "fay," from Latin fata (plural) "the Fates." In reference to a class of supernatural beings, the word is used from 1393... Fairy tale "oral narrative centred on magical tests, quests, and transformations" (1749) translates Fr. Conte de feés of Madame d'Aulnois (1698, translated into Eng. 1699). Fairy ring is from 1599...

A Fairy Ring

Also known as fairy circle, Elf circle or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. The rings may grow over ten meters in diameter and become stable over time as the fungus grows and seeks food underground. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in the grasslands and/or rangelands.

Fairy Tales

A fairy tale or fairy story is a fictional story that usually features folkloric characters (such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, witches, giants, and talking animals) and enchantments, often involving a far-fetched sequence of events. In modern-day parlance, the term is also used to describe to something blessed with unusual happiness, as in "fairy tale ending" (a happy ending) or "fairy tale romance", though there are notable examples and genres of fairy tales that do not end happily. Colloquially, a "fairy tale" or "fairy story" can also mean any far-fetched story...

One universally agreed-on factor is that the nature of a tale does not depend on whether fairies appear in it. Obviously, many people, including Angela Carter in her introduction to the Virago Book of Fairy Tales, have noted that a great many of so-called fairy tales do not feature fairies at all. This is partly because of the history of the English term "fairy tale" which derives from the French phrase contes de fée, and was first used in the collection of Madame D'Aulnoy in 1697.

As Stith Thompson (one of the world's leading authorities on folklore) and (Angela) Carter herself point out, talking animals and the presence of magic seem to be more common to the fairy tale than fairies themselves. ...

J. R. R. Tolkien, in his essay "On Fairy-Stories", agreed with the exclusion of "fairies" from the definition, and defined fairy tales as stories about the adventures of men in Faërie, the land of fairies, fairytale princess dwarves, elves, and not only other magical species but many other marvels. Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Gnomes

The guardian of mines, quarries, etc. (Greek, , a Cabalistic being. Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Gnomes - "dwarf-like earth-dwelling spirit," 1712, from Fr. gnome, from L. gnomus, used 16c. in a treatise by Paracelsus, who gave the name pigmaei or gnomi to elemental earth beings, possibly from Gk. *genomos "earth-dweller." A less-likely suggestion is that Paracelsus based it on the homonym that means "intelligence" (preserved in gnomic). Popular in children's literature 19c. as a name for red-capped Ger. and Swiss folklore dwarfs. Garden figurines first imported to England late 1860s from Germany.
The Online Etymological Dictionary

Leprechaun

In Irish mythology, a leprechaun (Modern Irish: leipreachán) is a type of male faerie said to inhabit the island of Ireland. They are a class of "faerie folk" associated in Irish mythology and folklore, as with all faeries, with the Tuatha Dé Danann and other quasi-historical peoples said to have inhabited Ireland before the arrival of the Celts.

Leprechauns and other creatures of Irish mythology are often associated with "faerie forts" or "faerie rings" — often the sites of ancient (Celtic or pre-Celtic) earthworks or drumlins.

They usually take the form of old men who enjoy partaking in mischief. Their trade is that of a cobbler or shoemaker. They are said to be very rich, having many treasure crocks buried during war-time.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

Pixies

Pixies (or Piskies as they are sometimes known in Cornwall) are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name. In regional dialect, these mischievous little folk are sometimes referred to as piskies/piskeys or the little people. They are usually depicted as wingless, with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed hat. Sometimes their eyes are described as being pointed upwards at the temple ends. 

Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia

The Púca (also Pooka, Phouka, Púka, Glashtyn, Gruagach)

The Púka is a creature of Irish and Welsh myth. It is one of the myriad of fairy (faery) folk, and, like many faery folk, is both respected and feared by those who believe in it. The common guise  is that of a sleek, dark horse with sulphurous yellow eyes and a long wild mane.

The origins of the Púka are to some extent speculative. The name may come from the Scandinavian pook or puke, meaning 'nature spirit'. Such beings were very capricious and had to be continually placated or they would create havoc in the countryside, destroying crops and causing illness among livestock. Alternatively, the horse cults prevalent throughout the early Celtic world may have provided the underlying motif for the nightmare steed.

Salamander

(1) mythical creature, generally resembling a lizard, believed capable of living in or withstanding fire. (2) In the occult philosophy of Paracelsus, a being having fire as its element.  

Answers.com

Salamander - 1340, "a legendary lizard-like creature that can live in fire," from O.Fr. salamandre (12c.), from L. salamandra, from Gk. salamandra, probably of eastern origin. The application to an actual amphibian is first recorded 1611. Aristotle, and especially Pliny, are responsible for the fiction of an animal that thrives in and extinguishes fires. The amphibian lives in damp logs and secretes a milky substance when threatened, but there is no obvious natural explanation its connection with the myth. Also used 18c. for "a woman who lives chastely in the midst of temptations" (after Addison), and "a soldier who exposes himself to fire in battle." To rub someone a salamander was a 19c. form of Ger. student drinking toast (einem einen salamander reiben). 

The Online Etymological Dictionary

Sylphs

According to Middle Age belief, are the elemental spirits of air; so named by the Rosicrucians and Cabalists, from the Greek silph (a butterfly or moth).  Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Sylph - 1657, from Mod.L. sylphes (pl.), coined 16c. by Paracelsus (1493-1541), originally referring to any race of spirits inhabiting the air, described as being mortal but lacking a soul. Paracelsus' word seems to be an arbitrary coinage, but perhaps it holds a suggestion of L. sylva and Gk. nymph. The meaning "slender, graceful girl" first recorded 1838, on the notion of "light, airy movements." Silphid (1680) are the younger or smaller variety, from Fr. sylphide (1671). 

The Online Etymological Dictionary

Trooping Fairies

In his Fairy Folk Tales of Ireland (1892), W. B. Yeats coined the expression "trooping fairies" to refer to those fairies who liked to travel together in groups, related to the sidhe, Christianised remnants of the Tuatha Dé Danann. This is in contrast to the solitary fairies, such as the banshee, leprechaun, or pooka. Typically Yeats' trooping fairies are compared to the elves of English lore.

The Tuatha Dé Danann

The Tuatha Dé Danann ("peoples of the goddess Danu") were a group of characters in Irish mythology and Scottish mythology. They are thought to represent the gods of the Goidelic Irish; their Christian transcribers' interpretations generally have reduced their stature to historical kings and heroes.

Undines