Elves

An elf (plural elves) is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings (wights, vættir) endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind. In medieval Norse mythology, they appear to have been divided into light elves and dark elves, difficult to delineate from the Æsir (gods) on one hand and the dvergar (dwarves) on the other.

In early modern and modern folklore, they become associated with the fairies of Romance folklore and assume a diminutive size, often living mainly in forests but also underground in hills or rocks, or in wells and springs. 19th-century Romanticism attempted to restore them to full stature, making them men and women of great beauty, often depicted as very young.

From their depiction in Romanticism, elves entered the 20th-century high fantasy genre in the wake of the published work of J. R. R. Tolkien (especially the posthumous publication of his Silmarillionwhere Tolkien's treatment of the relation of light elves, dark elves and dwarves is made explicit).

The "Christmas elves" of contemporary popular culture were popularized during the 1870s in the United States, in publications such as Godey's Lady's Book.The English word elf is from the Old English ælf or elf; in compound as ælfadl "nightmare," ælfsogoða "hiccup," afflictions apparently thought to be caused by elves.

The Old English word is derived from the Proto-Germanic *albiz, which also resulted in Old Norse álfr and Middle High German elbe. *Albiz may be from the Proto-Indo-European root *albh- meaning "white", from which also stems the Latin albus "white".^[1] Alternatively, a connection to the Rbhus, semi-divine craftsmen in Indian mythology, has also been suggested(OED).

Originally ælf/elf and its plural ælfe were the masculine forms, while the corresponding feminine form (first found in eighth century glosses) was ælfen or elfen (with a possible feminine plural -ælfa, found in dunælfa) which became the Middle English elven, using the feminine suffix -en from the earlier -inn which derives from the Proto-Germanic *-innja). The fact that cognates exist (such as the German elbinne) could suggest a West Germanic *alb(i)innjo, but this is uncertain, as the examples may be simply a transference to the weak declension common in Southern and Western forms of Middle English. The Middle English forms with this weak declension were aluen(e) and eluen(e). By the earlier eleventh century ælf could denote a female.

The Modern German Elf (m), Elfe (f), Elfen is a loan from English. A masculine Elb is reconstructed from the plural by Jacob Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch, who rejects Elfe as a (then, in the 1830s) recent anglicism. Elb (m, plural Elbe or Elben) is a reconstructed term, while Elbe (f) is attested in Middle High German. Alb, Alp (m), plural Alpe has the meaning of "incubus" (Old High German alp, plural *alpî or *elpî). Gothic has no direct testimony of *albs, plural *albeis, but Procopius has the personal name Albila.The Old English form of the word is ælf (pl. ælfe, with regional and chronological variants such as ylfe and ælfen). Words for the nymphs of the Greek and Roman mythos were translated by Anglo-Saxon scholars with ælf and variants on it.^[6]

Old English tradition preserves the ylfe exclusively as mischievous, harmful beings. The 10th century Metrical Charm "Against A Sudden Stitch" (Wið færstice) offers remedy against sudden pain (such as rheumatism) caused by projectiles of either ése or ylfe or witches (gif hit wære esa gescot oððe hit wære ylfa gescot oððe hit wære hægtessan gescot "be it Ése-shot or Elf-shot or witch-shot").

In relation the beauty of the Norse elves, some further evidence is given by old English words such as ælfsciene ("elf-beautiful"), used of seductively beautiful Biblical women in the Old English poemsJudith and Genesis A. Although elves could be considered to be beautiful and potentially helpful beings in some sections of English-speaking society throughout its history, Old English evidence also attests to alignments of elves with demons, as for example in line 112 of Beowulf. On the other hand, oaf is simply a variant of the word elf, presumably originally referring to a changeling or to someone stupefied by elvish enchantment.

Elf-shot (or elf-bolt or elf-arrow) is a word found in Scotland and Northern England, first attested in a manuscript of about the last quarter of the 16th century. Although first attested in the sense 'sharp pain caused by elves', it is later attested denoting Neolithic flint arrow-heads, which by the 17th century seem to have been attributed in the region to elvish folk, and which were used in healing rituals, and alleged to be used by witches (and perhaps elves) to injure people and cattle.^[7] So too a tangle in the hair was called an elf-lock, as being caused by the mischief of the elves (or especially byQueen Mab),^[8] and sudden paralysis was sometimes attributed to elf-stroke. Compare with the following excerpt from an 1750 ode by Willam Collins:

There every herd, by sad experience, knows

How, winged with fate, their elf-shot arrows fly,

When the sick ewe her summer food forgoes,

Or, stretched on earth, the heart-smit heifers lie.^[9]

An elven king occasionally appears among the predominantly female elves as in Denmark and Sweden. In the German middle-age epic theNibelungenlied, a dwarf named Alberich plays an important role. Alberich literally translates as "elf-sovereign", further contributing to the elf–dwarf confusion observed already in the Younger Edda. Via the French Alberon, the same name has entered English as Oberon – king of elves and fairies in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (see below).

The legend of Der Erlkönig appears to have originated in fairly recent times in Denmark and Goethe based his poem on "Erlkönigs Tochter" ("Erlkönig's Daughter"), a Danish work translated into German by Johann Gottfried Herder.

The Erlkönig's nature has been the subject of some debate. The name translates literally from the German as "Alder King" rather than its common English translation, "Elf King" (which would be rendered as Elfenkönig in German). It has often been suggested that Erlkönig is a mistranslation from the original Danish ellerkonge or elverkonge, which does mean "elf king".

According to German and Danish folklore, the Erlkönig appears as an omen of death, much like the banshee in Irish mythology. Unlike the banshee, however, the Erlkönig will appear only to the person about to die. His form and expression also tell the person what sort of death they will have: a pained expression means a painful death, a peaceful expression means a peaceful death. This aspect of the legend was immortalised by Goethe in his poem Der Erlkönig, later set to music by Schubert.

In the first story of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Die Wichtelmänner, the title protagonists are two naked mannequins, which help a shoemaker in his work. When he rewards their work with little clothes, they are so delighted, that they run away and are never seen again. Even though Wichtelmänner are akin to beings such as kobolds, dwarves and brownies, the tale has been translated into English as The Elves and the Shoemaker, and is echoed in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories (see House-elf).

Variations of the German elf in folklore include the moss people^[19] and the weisse frauen ("white women"). On the latter Jacob Grimm does not make a direct association to the elves, but other researchers see a possible connection to the shining light elves of Old Norse.^[20]