Vila (fairy)
feminine spirit in Southern Slavic folklore
A vila, or víla (plural: vile, or víly; Bulgarian: vila, diva, juda, samovila, samodiva, samojuda; Czech: víla, samodiva, divoženka; Old East Slavic: vila; Polish: wiła; Serbo-Croatian: vila; Slovak: víla; Slovene: vila) is a Slavic fairy similar to a nymph.
The vila is mostly known among South Slavs; however, some variants are present in the mythology of West Slavs as well. Among Czechs, víla denotes a woodland spirit (15th century), and ancient place names such as Vilice near Tábor, Vilov near Domažlice, and Vilín near Sedlčany seem to indicate that she was known there as well. In the Chronicle of Dalimil (3, 53), vila is "fool" (as in Old Polish). In Russia, vile are mentioned in the 11th century, but there is doubt that they were truly a part of Russian folklore and not just a literary tradition. There are common traits between the vile and the rusalki, and Schneeweis holds that they are identical.
Etymology
The etymology is unclear. Possible explanations are from the verb viti "to wind" and Church Slavonic: vichъrь "whirlwind"; or from Sanskrit: vāyú- "air", ultimately from Proto-Indo-European u̯ēi̯o- "wind".
Folkloric accounts
According to Natalie Kononenko, the vilas are female spirits of nature who have an ambivalent relationship with humans. In fairy tales, they may act with malice towards them (killing people, destroying crops) but may also help the hero by giving him magical objects and mounts.
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