fata morgana
UK /ˌfɑːtə mɔːˈɡɑːnə/ · US /ˌfɑtə mɔɹˈɡɑnə/ noun
Forms fata morganas
- noun A form of mirage seen just above the horizon, caused by a temperature inversion in the atmosphere, in which multiple upright and inverted images of a distant object appear to be stacked on top of each other in a highly distorted fashion; especially one seen at sea, and particularly in the Strait of Messina.
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian fata Morgana (“Morgan le Fay”), from fata (“fairy”) + Morgana (“Morgan”).
Webster’s 1913
- A kind of mirage by which distant objects appear inverted, distorted, displaced, or multiplied. It is noticed particularly at the Straits of Messina, between Calabria and Sicily.
Etymology [It.; -- so called because this phenomenon was looked upon as the work of a fairy (It. fata) of the name of Morgána. See Fairy.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fata morgana”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details