Note 313 — Chapter I · THE STEAM-SHIP “QUEEN”—THE ORKNEYS AND MAES HOWE—THE SHETLANDS AND THE FÆROE ISLANDS.

“Peerie-folk” means the fairies, both words evidently congeners of the Persian Pari or Peri. Grimm, an excellent authority, derives the French Fée, the Provençal Fada, the Spanish Hada, and the Italian Fata, from the Latin Fatum—remarking that Fata and Fée have the same analogy as nata and née, amata and aimée. In connection with “Simmer” or “Sea,” “Peerie,” meaning little, is by some deduced from the French “petit;” in the Shetlands it is further emphasised to Peerie-weerie-winkie (of a foal, etc.).