my autistic ass is once again begging people to stop calling her “Morgana La Fay” because that is not actually her name and every time I see it my soul leaves my body a little 😭
it’s “Morgan le Fay/Fey” or “Morgana le Fay/Fey”
NOT “la Fay”
because “le Fay/Fey”/“la fée” literally means “the fairy” in Old French. it’s a title/descriptor, not a surname
so “Morgana La Fay” is basically the equivalent of saying:
“Morgana the the fairy”
which sounds like someone lost a fight with Google translate
and yes, there are a million spelling variants:
Morgan
Morgaine
Morgana
Morgain
etc because medieval texts spelled things however the hell they wanted on a given Tuesday
but “la Fay” specifically is modern internet mutation disease
Thomas Malory popularized “le Fay” from the French “la fée” in Le Morte d’Arthur and earlier Geoffrey of Monmouth used “Morgen” in Vita Merlini around the 12th century
you’ll see:
* Morgan le Fay
* Morgan le Fey
* Morgaine le Fey
* Morgana le Fay
across different retellings, translations, and adaptations because medieval spelling was basically:
“does this resemble the sound I meant? fantastic. send it.” 😭
the important part is really the structure:
[name] + le Fay/le Fey/la Fée
where the second half is the epithet/title tied to “fairy/enchantress”
Arthurian legend was literally my first hyperfixation as a child so unfortunately this information is fused directly into my spinal cord
I cannot be normal about it 😌