Note 7 — ORIGIN OF THE WORD FAIRY.
Reading edition
Preface to Warton, p. 44; and Breton philologists furnish us with an etymon; not, indeed, of Fairy, but of Fada. "Fada, fata, etc.," says M. de Cambry (Monumens Celtiques), "come from the Breton mat or mad, in construction fat, good; whence the English, maid."