I’m reading Angela Carter rather than working on faerie story and came across the word eldritch, which is a word that I am sad I did not learn until now at age thirty-four. Let’s try out some HTML code for those who don’t feel like clicking on the dictionary link:
- eldritch
- Unearthly, supernatural, eerie.
The link continues to tell me: From the earlier form elritch, of uncertain origin. The second element, -ritch, is generally taken to be Old English rīċe (“realm, kingdom”) (see rich). Some think the first element, el-, derives from an Old English root meaning “foreign, strange, other” (related to Old English ellende and modern English else); others think it derives from elf.
So Book One of my faerie story is called How To See The Faeries. Book Two can be called Margery Eldritch.
Now to write Book Two. Or have a nap. Or something.