Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Fitzgerald
"Farewell" is the correct form. It evolved from the Middle English (essentially, Old French) farwel.
If using it in a medieval styled fantasy setting, "fair thee well" might serve your needs better. "Fare well" could also serve. "Fair" would be completely inappropriate for this usage.
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Excuse me, my lady, but are you absolutely sure about that being Old French? I associate it more with the germanic languages, particularly the scandinavian ones, where it literally means travel well. To travel in Swedish and Icelandic at least is 'fara' and 'väl' in Swedish means well. Not that educated and travelled scandinavians couldn't have imported an Old French phrase of course.
Apart from this nit-picking, I think you have given Vidor an excellent explanation.