Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Fata Morgana \Fa"ta Mor*ga"na\ [It.; -- so called because this
   phenomenon was looked upon as the work of a fairy (It. fata)
   of the name of Morg['a]na. See {Fairy}.]
   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.

Source : WordNet®

fata morgana
     n : a mirage in the Strait of Messina (attributed to the
         Arthurian sorcerer Morgan le Fay)