Fata Morgana, the Italian name for a striking kind of mirage observed in the Strait of Messina. A spectator on the shore sees images of men, houses, ships, &c., sometimes in the water, sometimes in the air, the same object having frequently two images, one inverted. It is so named because supposed to be caused by the fairy (fata) Morgana of Arthurian romance. See MIRAGE.
Fata Morgana
Chambers's Encyclopaedia, Volume 4: Dionysius to Friction
Source scan(s): p. 0575