The name of Morgan le Fay (from Twomey 1999)

Morgne la Faye (SGGK, line 2446): All editions. Rendered in glossaries, indices, notes and facing-page translations as either the English Morgan or the French Morgain, for which Morgne is apparently regarded as a variant. Unattested in French.

Morgan le Fay: Form of the name standardized by Malory in Le Morte Darthur (1469/70). The French article le = reduced form of la used in late Anglo-Norman French in unstressed positions. Fay = anglicized form of French fée. Morgan is accented on the first syllable.

Morgain la fée: Modern French form of the name, also attested in medieval French MSS. The article la reflects the feminine gender of the noun fée. Morgain is stressed on the second syllable.

Morgue: Initial-stress form Morgue alternates with final-stress form Morgain in French (Woledge 1986); each has variant spellings (see Flutre 1962, Paton 1903, 1960, West 1969, West 1978).


SGGK manuscript, lines 2446, 2452