The term would have come to Wales via the English marches. Rhys proposed that 'sili' came from the English 'silly' (in this sense meaning happy) and 'ffrit' from 'fright,' thus a term for a ghost. Sir John Rhys found that 'sili ffrit' was sometimes used as a term for a child of the Tywlyth Teg or for anything small. In a possibly related fragmentary story, a fairy woman was heard singing the words 'sili ffrit' while she spun thread. In a Welsh tale, 'Sili go Dwt' was the name of a Rumpelstiltskin-like fairy whose name had to be guessed. Welsh folklore Ī possible equivalent to the Scottish 'seelie' appears in the Welsh 'sili,' used in some individual fairy names. The seely court is also named in at least one fragmentary version of ' Tam Lin,' where they are more negative figures. 'Allison Gross' was recorded from Anne or Anna Gorden of Aberdeen, Scotland, sometime around 1783. The 'seely court' is mentioned in the ballad of ' Allison Gross,' where they play a benevolent role. Briggs equated the Unseelie Court 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. Ĭonversely, the Unseelie Court were the darkly-inclined fairies who would attack without provocation. Still, a fairy belonging to this court would avenge insults and could be prone to mischief. 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. The Seelie Court is a group of fairies, often specified as good fairies who contrast with the wicked Unseelie Court. 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.' Seelie and Unseelie courts Goodare additionally hypothesized that there was a sixteenth-century shamanistic cult centering around these beings, comparable to the Italian Benandanti and donas de fuera. Julian Goodare theorized that these were legendary nature spirits, similar to but distinct from fairies. Many Scottish ballads and tales tell of 'Seilie wichts' or ' wights,' meaning blessed beings. The antonym, unseely (also unsall, unsell ) means 'unhappy', 'misfortunate' or 'unholy.' The Modern Standard English word ' silly' is also derived from this root. The word derives from the Old English sǣl and gesǣlig and the Proto-West Germanic *sālīg (“blissful, happy”).

Seelie court noble kelir feat