phantasy

fantasy, phantasy

1. The OED, echoed by Fowler (1926), tried to assert a distinction between these two spellings, the first reflecting the Greek spelling and the second the more immediate French source of the word, ‘the predominant sense of the former being “caprice, whim, fanciful invention”, while that of the latter is “imagination, visionary notion” ’. In modern use there is no such distinction, and fantasy prevails in all meanings.

2. The use of fantasy in attributive position (before a noun) is relatively recent. Fantasy world dates from 1920, and Michael Innes (J. I. M. Stewart) appears to have been the first to use fantasy life, followed by C. Day Lewis (but their hyphen is not now usual):

• They have their tenure in remaining —remote, jewelled and magical —a focus for the fantasy-life of thousands —Hamlet, Revenge!, 1937

• It is said that an only child develops a particularly vivid fantasy-life —Buried Day, 1960.

In the 1980s came a new development with the invention, first in America and then in Britain, of a game called fantasy football, in which participants choose an imaginary team made up of real-life players; the actual performance of these players determines the fortunes of the fantasy team and ultimately the winner of the game. Other combinations in the same language domain include fantasy league and fantasy baseball.