All of this information is taken from The Illustrated Encyclopaedia Of Fairies. Written by Anna Franklin

Words in CAPITALS within an entry are cross-references to other main entries.


AEDH is the son of the King of Leinster who was enticed into a fairy MOUND by the Irish faries. After many years, he managed to escape with fifty other human captives. Immediately, they encountered St. Patrick who has recently arrived in Ireland. Aedh converted to Christianity on the spot and declared that thenceforth the TUATHA DÉ DANAAN had no more power over him.

AEGLE is one of the HESPERIDES.

AELF is a Scandinavian ELF the name meaning something like "white spirit" or "shining spirit". Aelfs were originally nature or fertility spirits, with a great many varieties such as the dunaelfen or hill elves, wyldaelfen oe wild-elves; plus field elves, mountian elves, sea elves, wood elves and water elves.
        Aelf or elf appears as a component of many human names including Aefgar ('elf-spear'), Aelfhelm ('elf-helment') Elfrida ('threatening elf'), Alvin ('elf friend') and Aelfric ('elf king'), which survives as Aubrey.
        The most famous elf name belongs to King Aelfred - better known as Alfred the Great - meaning ' elf counsel'. This famous early English king's name indicated that he was cunning in council, or as crafty as a super natural being. One Archbishop of Canterbury was called Aelfhaeg, meaning 'high as an elf'. This significance if his name doesn't seem to have escaped the church, which Latinized it as Alphaegius. Such names began to disappear from England after the Norman invasion.
        Elves were thought to cause sickness such as the aelfsogotha or 'elf disease' which made a human's eyes go yellow (possibly jaundice), or 'elf cake' consisting of a hardness in the side (maybe hernia) and the wateraelfadl or ' water-elf disease' (possibly chicken pox, still known in Germany as water pox, or wasserpocken). The Scottish word Eldritch (or in it older spelling 'elriche'), meaning uncanny, is either formed from the Anglo-Saxon aelf and ric referring to a place rich in spirits, or elfrice meaning the fairy kingdom, or FAIRYLAND.

AELFTHONE is the plant Enchanter's Nightshade (Circaea lutetiana), used by Anglo Saxon leeches, or doctors, to counteract the powers of evil elves. It grew in the places they frequented, such as shady, moist spots, but had greater power than they did. In Germany, it was associated with WITCHES and called Hexenkraut or 'witches herb'.

AENGUS, Aonghus Og, Oenghus Og or Angus Og is one of the Irish faries the TUATHA DDÉ DANAAN, thoughhe was originally the god of love and youth, the son of the DAGDA and the river goddess Boann. He is called Mac Og, which means 'young son', as he is said to be beautiful. He is accompanied by four birds that hover around his head and represent his kisses. He lives in a MOUND called Bruig na Boinne, the prehistoric site of Newgrange in Co. Meath.
        The most famous story about him tells how, in a dream, he was visited by a fariy maiden called CAER and fell in love with her. He set out to find her one SAMHAIN Eve, one of a hundred and fifty SWAN MAIDENS bound together in pairs with silver chains. Aengus turned himself into a swan and away they flew together, THREE times around the lake, singing a magical song that put all the local people to sleep for three days and nights.

AÉRICO are Albanian TREE FARIES who haunt old and barren cherry trees. They are malicious, and anyone who even steps into the shadow of one of their trees will be afflicted with swellings and pains in the hands and feet.

AES SIDHE ('People of the Hills') are Irish faries who live in the ancient hills and burial MOUNDS. They leave their mounds on SAMHAIN Eve, IMBOLC Eve, BELTANE Eve, and LUGHNASA Eve to move amongst humans.

AFRANC or Addanc is a Welsh WATER FARIY, or primeval water spirit, with claws and able to throw spears. King ARTHUR fought an afranc in Llyn Barfog; and another was dragged from its lair in the River Conway by a giant ox and dropped into Glaslyn, the 'bottomless' lake in Mount Snowdon. Afranc is equivalent to the Trish ABHAC, a type of DWARF or river spirit. The word is derived from the word abha, meaning 'river'.

AFREET or Ifrit (f. Afreeta; m. Afreet) are a type of DJINN generally thought of as evil.

AGOGWE are Tanzanian faries that appear as tiny, hairy RED men.

AGUANE/AGUANA is a female fairy of Northern Italy and of the Austrian and soulthern Salvonic borders. These faries are able to SHAPESHIFT, but generally appear as beautiful, long-haired women, of human size or smaller and dressed in furs. They possess lovely voices but have the FEET of GOATS or horses. Sometimes they appear as old HAGS. As they are the guardians of streams and mountians, you must ask the Aguana's permission before bathing in mountian waters. If n Aguana comes upon a man muddying the water she will wrap her hair around his feet and drag him beneath the surface to drown him, or take him into her CAVE to sexually molest him, or she may even eat him. However, Aguane appear to be particularly fond of small children whom they carry around on their backs, tossing one of their long breasts over their shoulders to suckle them. Their husbands known as the SILVANI.