fairy rath

English

Noun

fairy rath (plural fairy raths)

  1. (Irish folklore) A circular meadow surrounded by a wall or mound, inhabited by fairies.
    Synonym: fairy fort
    • 1834, William Carleton, Traits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry: Second Series, volume III, Dublin: William Frederick Wakeman, page 229:
      One gable of it was formed by the mound of a fairy Rath, against which the cabin stood endwise[.]
    • 1834, Arthur Colnolly, Journey To The North Of India, volume II, London: Richard Bentley, page 169:
      A woman of the Speen Tereen tribe, loved of a Peri, was taken away for five months to some fairy rath in Ginnistan, or elf-land, and, when restored, she was a “wise woman,” and had the gift of discovering where stolen things were, so that people came from distances to consult her.
    • 1881, Alfred M. Williams, The Poets and Poetry of Ireland: With Historical and Critical Essays and Notes, Boston: James R. Osgood, page 87:
      The poet in a vision sees a queenly maiden of exquisite beauty and grace sitting lonely and weeping on some fairy rath by moonlight, by the side of a softly flowing stream, or by the wall of some ruined castle of ancient splendor. He is at first confounded by her beauty.
    • 1883, William Butler Yeats, Fairy and Folk Tales of the Irish Peasantry, London: Walter Scott, page 3:
      No wise peasant would hum “The Pretty Girl milking the Cow” near a fairy rath, for they are jealous, and do not like to hear their songs on clumsy mortal lips.
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