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An elf () is a type of
humanoid
A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20 ...
supernatural
Supernatural refers to phenomena or entities that are beyond the laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin (above, beyond, or outside of) + (nature) Though the corollary term "nature", has had multiple meanings si ...
being in
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic lang ...
and
folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...
. Elves appear especially in
North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
's
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...
ic
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
. He distinguishes "light elves" and "dark elves". The dark elves create new blond hair for Thor's wife
Sif
In Norse mythology, Sif (Old Norse: ) is a golden-haired goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th century ...
after
Loki
Loki is a god in Norse mythology. According to some sources, Loki is the son of Fárbauti (a jötunn) and Laufey (mentioned as a goddess), and the brother of Helblindi and Býleistr. Loki is married to Sigyn and they have two sons, Narfi ...
had shorn off Sif's long hair.
In medieval
Germanic-speaking cultures, elves generally seem to have been thought of as beings with magical powers and supernatural beauty, ambivalent towards everyday people and capable of either helping or hindering them. However, the details of these beliefs have varied considerably over time and space and have flourished in both pre-Christian and
Christian culture
Christian culture generally includes all the cultural practices which have developed around the religion of Christianity. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions.
Christian culture has i ...
s.
Sometimes elves are, like dwarfs, associated with craftmanship.
Wayland the Smith
In Germanic mythology, Wayland the Smith ( ang, Wēland; , ; Old Frisian: Wela(n)du; german: Wieland der Schmied; goh, Wiolant; ''Galans'' (''Galant'') in Old French; gem-x-proto, Wēlandaz, italic=no from ', lit. "crafting one") is a master ...
embodies this feature. He is known under many names, depending on the language in which the stories were distributed. The names include ''Völund'' in Old Norse, ''Wēland'' in Anglo-Saxon and ''Wieland'' in German. The story of Wayland is also to be found in the ''Prose Edda''.
The word ''elf'' is found throughout the
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
and seems originally to have meant 'white being'. However, reconstructing the early concept of an elf depends largely on texts written by Christians, in
Old
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
* Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...
and
Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
, medieval German, and
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
. These associate elves variously with the gods of
Norse mythology
Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...
, with causing illness, with magic, and with beauty and seduction.
After the medieval period, the word ''elf'' tended to become less common throughout the Germanic languages, losing out to alternative native terms like ''
Zwerg
James Zwerg (born November 28, 1939) is an American retired minister who was involved with the Freedom Riders in the early 1960s.
Early life
Zwerg was born in Appleton, Wisconsin where he lived with his parents and older brother, Charles. His ...
'' ('
dwarf
Dwarf or dwarves may refer to:
Common uses
*Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore
* Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities
* Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...
') in German and ''
huldra'' ('hidden being') in
North Germanic languages
The North Germanic languages make up one of the three branches of the Germanic languages—a sub-family of the Indo-European languages—along with the West Germanic languages and the extinct East Germanic languages. The language group is also ...
, and to loan-words like ''
fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
'' (borrowed from French into most of the Germanic languages). Still, beliefs in elves persisted in the
early modern period, particularly in Scotland and Scandinavia, where elves were thought of as magically powerful people living, usually invisibly, alongside everyday human communities. They continued to be associated with causing illnesses and with sexual threats. For example, several early modern ballads in the
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...
and Scandinavia, originating in the medieval period, describe elves attempting to seduce or abduct human characters.
With urbanisation and industrialisation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, beliefs in elves declined rapidly (though Iceland has some claim to continued popular belief in elves). However, elves started to be prominent in the literature and art of educated elites from the early modern period onwards. These literary elves were imagined as tiny, playful beings, with
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...
'' being a key development of this idea. In the eighteenth century, German
Romantic writers were influenced by this notion of the elf and re-imported the English word ''elf'' into the German language.
From the Romantic idea of elves came the elves of popular culture that emerged in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The "
Christmas elves" of contemporary popular culture are a relatively recent creation, popularized during the late nineteenth century in the United States. Elves entered the twentieth-century
high fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...
genre in the wake of works published by authors such as
J. R. R. Tolkien; these re-popularised the idea of elves as human-sized and humanlike beings. Elves
remain a prominent feature of fantasy media today.
Relationship with reality
Reality and perception
From a scientific viewpoint, elves are not considered
objectively real. However, elves have in many times and places been
believed
''Believed'' is the third and final album by American pop singer-songwriter, actor Jamie Walters with his band, Elco. It was released through indie label Leisure Records.
Track listing
#"Evilyn" (Jamie Walters
James Leland Walters Jr. (born Ju ...
to be real beings. Where enough people have believed in the reality of elves that those beliefs then had real effects in the world, they can be understood as part of people's
worldview
A worldview or world-view or ''Weltanschauung'' is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the whole of the individual's or society's knowledge, culture, and point of view. A worldview can include natural ...
, and as a
social reality
Social reality is distinct from biological reality or individual cognitive reality, representing as it does a phenomenological level created through social interaction and thereby transcending individual motives and actions. As a product of human ...
: a thing which, like the exchange value of a dollar bill or the sense of pride stirred up by a national flag, is real because of people's beliefs rather than as an objective reality. Accordingly, beliefs about elves and their social functions have varied over time and space.
Even in the twenty-first century, fantasy stories about elves have been argued both to reflect and to shape their audiences' understanding of the real world,
and traditions about Santa Claus and his elves relate to
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...
.
Over time, people have attempted to
demythologise or
rationalise beliefs in elves in various ways.
Integration into Christian cosmologies
Beliefs about elves have their origins before the
conversion to Christianity
Conversion to Christianity is the religious conversion of a previously non-Christian person to Christianity. Different Christian denominations may perform various different kinds of rituals or ceremonies initiation into their community of believe ...
and associated
Christianization
Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...
of northwest Europe. For this reason, belief in elves has, from the Middle Ages through into recent scholarship, often been labelled "
pagan
Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...
" and a "
superstition
A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs ...
." However, almost all surviving textual sources about elves were produced by Christians (whether Anglo-Saxon monks, medieval Icelandic poets, early modern ballad-singers, nineteenth-century folklore collectors, or even twentieth-century fantasy authors). Attested beliefs about elves, therefore, need to be understood as part of
Germanic-speakers' Christian culture and not merely a relic of their
pre-Christian religion. Accordingly, investigating the relationship between beliefs in elves and
Christian cosmology
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρισ ...
has been a preoccupation of scholarship about elves both in early times and modern research.
Historically, people have taken three main approaches to integrate elves into Christian cosmology, all of which are found widely across time and space:
* Identifying elves with the
demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in Media (communication), media such as comics, video ...
s of Judaeo-Christian-Mediterranean tradition. For example:
** In English-language material: in the
Royal Prayer Book
The Royal Prayer Book (London, British Library Royal MS 2.A.XX) is a collection of prayers believed to have been copied in the late eighth century or the early ninth century. It was written in West Mercia, likely either in or around Wor ...
from c. 900, ''elf'' appears as a
gloss for "Satan". In the late-fourteenth-century ''
Wife of Bath's Tale
"The Wife of Bath's Tale" ( enm, The Tale of the Wyf of Bathe) is among the best-known of Geoffrey Chaucer's ''Canterbury Tales''. It provides insight into the role of women in the Late Middle Ages and was probably of interest to Chaucer himsel ...
'',
Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
equates male elves with
incubi
An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...
(demons which rape sleeping women). In the
early modern Scottish witchcraft trials, witnesses' descriptions of encounters with elves were often interpreted by prosecutors as encounters with the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
.
** In medieval Iceland,
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson ( ; ; 1179 – 22 September 1241) was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was elected twice as lawspeaker of the Icelandic parliament, the Althing. He is commonly thought to have authored or compiled portions of th ...
wrote in his ''
Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
'' of
''ljósálfar'' and ''dökkálfar'' ('light-elves and dark-elves'), the ''ljósálfar'' living in the heavens and the ''dökkálfar'' under the earth. The consensus of modern scholarship is that Snorri's elves are based on angels and demons of Christian cosmology.
[; ; ; .]
** Elves appear as demonic forces widely in medieval and early modern English, German, and Scandinavian prayers.
[
* Viewing elves as being more or less like people and more or less outside Christian cosmology. The Icelanders who copied the '']Poetic Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...
'' did not explicitly try to integrate elves into Christian thought. Likewise, the early modern Scottish people who confessed to encountering elves seem not to have thought of themselves as having dealings with the Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...
. Nineteenth-century Icelandic folklore about elves
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes ...
mostly presents them as a human agricultural community parallel to the visible human community, which may or may not be Christian.[ It is possible that stories were sometimes told from this perspective as a political act, to subvert the dominance of the Church.
* Integrating elves into Christian cosmology without identifying them as demons. The most striking examples are serious theological treatises: the Icelandic ''Tíðfordrif'' (1644) by Jón Guðmundsson lærði or, in Scotland, Robert Kirk's ''Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies'' (1691). This approach also appears in the Old English poem '']Beowulf
''Beowulf'' (; ang, Bēowulf ) is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. ...
'', which lists elves among the races springing from Cain's murder of Abel. The late thirteenth-century ''South English Legendary
South English legendaries are compilations of versified saints' lives written in southern dialects of Middle English from the late 13th to 15th centuries. At least fifty of these manuscripts survive, preserving nearly three hundred hagiographic wo ...
'' and some Icelandic folktales explain elves as angels that sided neither with Lucifer
Lucifer is one of various figures in folklore associated with the planet Venus. The entity's name was subsequently absorbed into Christianity as a name for the devil. Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passa ...
nor with God and were banished by God to earth rather than hell. One famous Icelandic folktale explains elves as the lost children of Eve.
Demythologising elves as indigenous peoples
Some nineteenth- and twentieth-century scholars attempted to rationalise beliefs in elves as folk memories of lost indigenous peoples. Since belief in supernatural beings is ubiquitous in human cultures, scholars no longer believe such explanations are valid. Research has shown, however, that stories about elves have often been used as a way for people to think metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
ically about real-life ethnic others.
Demythologising elves as people with illness or disability
Scholars have at times also tried to explain beliefs in elves as being inspired by people suffering certain kinds of illnesses (such as Williams syndrome
Williams syndrome (WS) is a genetic disorder that affects many parts of the body. Facial features frequently include a broad forehead, underdeveloped chin, short nose, and full cheeks. Mild to moderate intellectual disability is observed in people ...
). Elves were certainly often seen as a cause of illness, and indeed the English word ''oaf'' seems to have originated as a form of ''elf'': the word ''elf'' came to mean 'changeling
A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a fairy that had been left in place of a human (typically a child) stolen by other fairi ...
left by an elf' and then, because changelings were noted for their failure to thrive, to its modern sense 'a fool, a stupid person; a large, clumsy man or boy'. However, it again seems unlikely that the origin of beliefs in elves itself is to be explained by people's encounters with objectively real people affected by disease.
Etymology
The English word '' elf'' is from the Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
word most often attested as (whose plural would have been *). Although this word took a variety of forms in different Old English dialects, these converged on the form ''elf'' during the Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old Englis ...
period. During the Old English period, separate forms were used for female elves (such as , putatively from Proto-Germanic *''ɑlβ(i)innjō''), but during the Middle English period the word ''elf'' routinely came to include female beings.
The Old English forms are cognate
In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical ef ...
s – linguistic siblings stemming from a common origin – with medieval Germanic terms such as Old Norse ('elf'; plural ), Old High German ('evil spirit'; pl. , ; feminine ), Burgundian *''alfs'' ('elf'), and Middle Low German ' ('evil spirit'). These words must come from Proto-Germanic
Proto-Germanic (abbreviated PGmc; also called Common Germanic) is the reconstructed proto-language of the Germanic branch of the Indo-European languages.
Proto-Germanic eventually developed from pre-Proto-Germanic into three Germanic br ...
, the ancestor-language of the attested Germanic languages
The Germanic languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family spoken natively by a population of about 515 million people mainly in Europe, North America, Oceania and Southern Africa. The most widely spoken Germanic language, ...
; the Proto-Germanic forms are reconstructed as *''ɑlβi-z'' and *''ɑlβɑ-z''.
Germanic '' *ɑlβi-z~*ɑlβɑ-z'' is generally agreed to be a cognate with Latin ''albus'' ('(matt) white'), Old Irish ''ailbhín'' ('flock'), Ancient Greek ἀλφός (''alphós''; 'whiteness, white leprosy';), and Albanian ''elb'' ('barley'); and the Germanic word for 'swan' reconstructed as ''*albit-'' (compare Modern Icelandic ''álpt'') is often thought to be derived from it. These all come from an Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
root ''*h₂elbʰ-'', and seem to be connected by the idea of whiteness. The Germanic word presumably originally meant 'white one', perhaps as a euphemism. Jakob Grimm thought whiteness implied positive moral connotations, and, noting Snorri Sturluson's '' ljósálfar'', suggested that elves were divinities of light. This is not necessarily the case, however. For example, because the cognates suggest matt white rather than shining white, and because in medieval Scandinavian texts whiteness is associated with beauty, Alaric Hall
Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal ''Leeds Studies ...
has suggested that elves may have been called 'the white people' because whiteness was associated with (specifically feminine) beauty. Some scholars have argued that the names Albion
Albion is an alternative name for Great Britain. The oldest attestation of the toponym comes from the Greek language. It is sometimes used poetically and generally to refer to the island, but is less common than 'Britain' today. The name for Scot ...
and Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Sw ...
may also be related (possibly through Celtic).
A completely different etymology, making ''elf'' a cognate with the '' Ṛbhus'', semi-divine craftsmen in Indian mythology, was suggested by Adalbert Kuhn
Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn (19 November 1812 – 5 May 1881) was a German philologist and folklorist.
Kuhn was born in Königsberg in Brandenburg's Neumark region. From 1841 he was connected with the Köllnisches Gymnasium at Berlin, of w ...
in 1855.[; .] In this case, *''ɑlβi-z'' would connote the meaning 'skillful, inventive, clever', and could be a cognate with Latin ''labor'', in the sense of 'creative work'. While often mentioned, this etymology is not widely accepted.
In proper names
Throughout the medieval Germanic languages, ''elf'' was one of the nouns used in personal names
A personal name, or full name, in onomastic terminology also known as prosoponym (from Ancient Greek πρόσωπον / ''prósōpon'' - person, and ὄνομα / ''onoma'' - name), is the set of names by which an individual person is know ...
, almost invariably as a first element. These names may have been influenced by Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
names beginning in ''Albio-'' such as '' Albiorix''.
Personal names provide the only evidence for ''elf'' in Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
, which must have had the word * (plural *). The most famous name of this kind is ''Alboin
Alboin (530s – 28 June 572) was king of the Lombards from about 560 until 572. During his reign the Lombards ended their migrations by settling in Italy, the northern part of which Alboin conquered between 569 and 572. He had a lasting eff ...
''. Old English names in ''elf''- include the cognate of ''Alboin'' Ælfwine (literally "elf-friend", m.), Ælfric ("elf-powerful", m.), Ælfweard ("elf-guardian", m.), and Ælfwaru ("elf-care", f.). A widespread survivor of these in modern English is Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interl ...
(Old English ''Ælfrēd'', "elf-advice"). Also surviving are the English surname Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...
(''Ælfgar'', "elf-spear") and the name of St Alphege (''Ælfhēah'', "elf-tall"). German examples are '' Alberich'', ''Alphart
''Alpharts Tod'' (The Death of Alphart) is an anonymous late medieval Middle High German poem in the poetic cycle of the hero Dietrich von Bern, the counterpart of the historical Ostrogothic king Theodoric the Great in Germanic heroic legend. It ...
'' and ''Alphere'' (father of Walter of Aquitaine
Walter or Walther of Aquitaine is a king of the Visigoths in Germanic heroic legend.
Epic poetry
Walter figures in several epic poems and narratives dealing with Germanic heroic legend in medieval languages:
* ''Waldere'', a fragment of an ...
)[ and Icelandic examples include ''Álfhildur''. These names suggest that elves were positively regarded in early Germanic culture. Of the many words for supernatural beings in Germanic languages, the only ones regularly used in personal names are ''elf'' and words denoting pagan gods, suggesting that elves were considered similar to gods.
In later Old Icelandic, ("elf") and the personal name which in Common Germanic had been * both coincidentally became .][
Elves appear in some place names, though it is difficult to be sure how many of other words, including personal names, can appear similar to ''elf''. The clearest English examples are '' Elveden'' ("elves' hill", Suffolk) and '']Elvendon
Elvendon is a small settlement in Oxfordshire and the Chiltern Hills, near Goring-on-Thames, Goring. It includes the grade II listed building Elvendon Priory.
Etymology
The first element of the name is agreed to be the word ''elf'', either in s ...
'' ("elves' valley", Oxfordshire);[Ann Cole, 'Two Chiltern Place-names Reconsidered: Elvendon and Misbourne', ''Journal of the English Place-name Society'', 50 (2018), 65-74 (p. 67).] other examples may be ''Eldon Hill
Eldon Hill is a hill in the Peak District National Park in the county of Derbyshire, England, southwest of the village of Castleton. It is a limestone hill whose pastureland is used for rough grazing, although a large proportion has been ...
'' ("Elves' hill", Derbyshire); and ''Alden Valley
The Alden Valley is a small valley on the eastern edge of the West Pennine Moors, west of Helmshore in Rossendale, Lancashire, England. In the 14th century it was part of the Earl of Lincoln's hunting park. By 1840 it was home to about twenty farm ...
'' ("elves' valley", Lancashire). These seem to associate elves fairly consistently with woods and valleys.
In medieval texts and post-medieval folk belief
Medieval English-language sources
As causes of illnesses
The earliest surviving manuscripts mentioning elves in any Germanic language are from Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom of ...
. Medieval English evidence has, therefore, attracted quite extensive research and debate. In Old English, elves are most often mentioned in medical texts which attest to the belief that elves might afflict humans and livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to ani ...
with illnesses: apparently mostly sharp, internal pains and mental disorders. The most famous of the medical texts is the metrical charm ''Wið færstice "Wið færstice" is an Old English medical text surviving in the collection known now as ''Lacnunga'' in the British Library. ''Wið fǣrstiċe'' means 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain'; and according to Felix Grendon, whose collection of A ...
'' ("against a stabbing pain"), from the tenth-century compilation ''Lacnunga
The ''Lacnunga'' ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. The title ''Lacnunga'', an Old English word meaning 'remedies', is not in the manuscript: it was given t ...
'', but most of the attestations are in the tenth-century ''Bald's Leechbook'' and ''Leechbook III''. This tradition continues into later English-language traditions too: elves continue to appear in Middle English medical texts.[; ; .]
Beliefs in elves causing illnesses remained prominent in early modern Scotland, where elves were viewed as supernaturally powerful people who lived invisibly alongside everyday rural people. Thus, elves were often mentioned in the early modern Scottish witchcraft trials: many witnesses in the trials believed themselves to have been given healing powers or to know of people or animals made sick by elves.[ Throughout these sources, elves are sometimes associated with the ]succubus
A succubus is a demon or supernatural entity in folklore, in female form, that appears in dreams to seduce men, usually through sexual activity. According to religious tradition, a succubus needs male semen to survive; repeated sexual activi ...
-like supernatural being called the ''mare''.
While they may have been thought to cause diseases with magical weapons, elves are more clearly associated in Old English with a kind of magic denoted by Old English ''sīden'' and ''sīdsa'', a cognate with the Old Norse ''seiðr
In Old Norse, (sometimes anglicized as ''seidhr'', ''seidh'', ''seidr'', ''seithr'', ''seith'', or ''seid'') was a type of magic which was practised in Norse society during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age. The practice of is believed to be a ...
'', and also paralleled in the Old Irish '' Serglige Con Culainn''. By the fourteenth century, they were also associated with the arcane practice of alchemy
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim wo ...
.
"Elf-shot"
In one or two Old English medical texts, elves might be envisaged as inflicting illnesses with projectiles. In the twentieth century, scholars often labelled the illnesses elves caused as " elf-shot", but work from the 1990s onwards showed that the medieval evidence for elves' being thought to cause illnesses in this way is slender; debate about its significance is ongoing.
The noun ''elf-shot'' is first attested in a Scots poem, "Rowlis Cursing," from around 1500, where "elf schot" is listed among a range of curses to be inflicted on some chicken thieves. The term may not always have denoted an actual projectile: ''shot'' could mean "a sharp pain" as well as "projectile." But in early modern Scotland, ''elf-schot'' and other terms like ''elf-arrowhead'' are sometimes used of neolithic arrow-heads, apparently thought to have been made by elves. In a few witchcraft trials, people attest that these arrow-heads were used in healing rituals and occasionally alleged that witches (and perhaps elves) used them to injure people and cattle. Compare with the following excerpt from a 1749–50 ode by William Collins:[, i 68, stanza II. 1749 date of composition is given on p. 63.]
Size, appearance, and sexuality
Because of elves' association with illness, in the twentieth century, most scholars imagined that elves in the Anglo-Saxon tradition were small, invisible, demonic beings, causing illnesses with arrows. This was encouraged by the idea that "elf-shot" is depicted in the Eadwine Psalter, in an image which became well known in this connection.[ However, this is now thought to be a misunderstanding: the image proves to be a conventional illustration of God's arrows and Christian demons. Rather, twenty-first century scholarship suggests that Anglo-Saxon elves, like elves in Scandinavia or the Irish '']Aos Sí
' (; older form: ) is the Irish name for a supernatural race in Celtic mythology – spelled ''sìth'' by the Scots, but pronounced the same – comparable to fairies or elves. They are said to descend from either fallen angels or the ...
'', were regarded as people.
Like words for gods and men, the word ''elf'' is used in personal names where words for monsters and demons are not. Just as ''álfar'' is associated with ''Æsir
The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, ...
'' in Old Norse, the Old English ''Wið færstice'' associates elves with ''ēse''; whatever this word meant by the tenth century, etymologically it denoted pagan gods. In Old English, the plural (attested in ''Beowulf'') is grammatically an ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and us ...
(a word for an ethnic group), suggesting that elves were seen as people.[ As well as appearing in medical texts, the Old English word ''ælf'' and its feminine derivative ''ælbinne'' were used in glosses to translate Latin words for ]nymph
A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ...
s. This fits well with the word ''ælfscȳne'', which meant "elf-beautiful" and is attested describing the seductively beautiful Biblical heroines Sarah
Sarah (born Sarai) is a biblical matriarch and prophetess, a major figure in Abrahamic religions. While different Abrahamic faiths portray her differently, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all depict her character similarly, as that of a pio ...
and Judith.
Likewise, in Middle English and early modern Scottish evidence, while still appearing as causes of harm and danger, elves appear clearly as humanlike beings. They became associated with medieval chivalric romance traditions of fairies
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
and particularly with the idea of a Fairy Queen
In folklore and literature, the Fairy Queen or Queen of the Fairies is a female ruler of the fairies, sometimes but not always paired with a king. Depending on the work, she may be named or unnamed; Titania and Mab are two frequently used name ...
. A propensity to seduce or rape people becomes increasingly prominent in the source material. Around the fifteenth century, evidence starts to appear for the belief that elves might steal human babies and replace them with changeling
A changeling, also historically referred to as an auf or oaf, is a human-like creature found in folklore throughout Europe. A changeling was believed to be a fairy that had been left in place of a human (typically a child) stolen by other fairi ...
s.
Decline in the use of the word ''elf''
By the end of the medieval period, ''elf'' was increasingly being supplanted by the French loan-word ''fairy''. An example is Geoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer (; – 25 October 1400) was an English poet, author, and civil servant best known for '' The Canterbury Tales''. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry". He w ...
's satirical tale '' Sir Thopas'', where the title character sets out in a quest for the "elf-queen", who dwells in the "countree of the Faerie".
Old Norse texts
Mythological texts
Evidence for elf beliefs in medieval Scandinavia outside Iceland is sparse, but the Icelandic evidence is uniquely rich. For a long time, views about elves in Old Norse mythology were defined by Snorri Sturluson's ''Prose Edda
The ''Prose Edda'', also known as the ''Younger Edda'', ''Snorri's Edda'' ( is, Snorra Edda) or, historically, simply as ''Edda'', is an Old Norse textbook written in Iceland during the early 13th century. The work is often assumed to have been ...
'', which talks about '' svartálfar'', ''dökkálfar'' and ''ljósálfar'' ("black elves", "dark elves", and "light elves"). However, these words are attested only in the Prose Edda and texts based on it. It is now agreed that they reflect traditions of dwarves, demon
A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in Media (communication), media such as comics, video ...
s, and angel
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles ...
s, partly showing Snorri's "paganisation" of a Christian cosmology learned from the ''Elucidarius
''Elucidarium'' (also ''Elucidarius'', so called because it "elucidates the obscurity of various things") is an encyclopedic work or ''summa'' about medieval Christian theology and folk belief, originally written in the late 11th century by Hono ...
'', a popular digest of Christian thought.
Scholars of Old Norse mythology now focus on references to elves in Old Norse poetry, particularly the Elder Edda
The ''Poetic Edda'' is the modern name for an untitled collection of Old Norse anonymous narrative poems, which is distinct from the ''Prose Edda'' written by Snorri Sturluson. Several versions exist, all primarily of text from the Icelandic med ...
. The only character explicitly identified as an elf in classical Eddaic poetry, if any, is Völundr, the protagonist of '' Völundarkviða''. However, elves are frequently mentioned in the alliterating phrase ''Æsir ok Álfar'' ('Æsir and elves') and its variants. This was a well-established poetic formula
In science, a formula is a concise way of expressing information symbolically, as in a mathematical formula or a ''chemical formula''. The informal use of the term ''formula'' in science refers to the general construct of a relationship betwe ...
, indicating a strong tradition of associating elves with the group of gods known as the Æsir
The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, ...
, or even suggesting that the elves and Æsir were one and the same. The pairing is paralleled in the Old English poem ''Wið færstice "Wið færstice" is an Old English medical text surviving in the collection known now as ''Lacnunga'' in the British Library. ''Wið fǣrstiċe'' means 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain'; and according to Felix Grendon, whose collection of A ...
'' and in the Germanic personal name system; moreover, in Skaldic verse the word ''elf'' is used in the same way as words for gods. Sigvatr Þórðarson's skaldic travelogue '' Austrfaravísur'', composed around 1020, mentions an ''álfablót
The Álfablót or the Elven sacrifice is a pagan Scandinavian sacrifice to the elves towards the end of autumn, when the crops had been harvested and the animals were most fat. Unlike the great blóts at Uppsala and Mære, the álfablót was a loca ...
'' ('elves' sacrifice') in Edskogen in what is now southern Sweden. There does not seem to have been any clear-cut distinction between humans and gods; like the Æsir, then, elves were presumably thought of as being humanlike and existing in opposition to the giants. Many commentators have also (or instead) argued for conceptual overlap between elves and dwarves in Old Norse mythology, which may fit with trends in the medieval German evidence.
There are hints that the god Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...
was associated with elves. In particular, ''Álfheimr
In Norse cosmology, Álfheimr (Old Norse: , "Land of the Elves" or "Elfland"; anglicized as Alfheim), also called "Ljósálfheimr" ( , "home of the Light Elves"), is home of the Light Elves.
Attestations
Álfheim as an abode of the Elves is me ...
'' (literally "elf-world") is mentioned as being given to Freyr
Freyr (Old Norse: 'Lord'), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god in Norse mythology, associated with kingship, fertility, peace, and weather. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden an ...
in ''Grímnismál
''Grímnismál'' (Old Norse: ; 'The Lay of Grímnir') is one of the mythological poems of the ''Poetic Edda''. It is preserved in the Codex Regius manuscript and the AM 748 I 4to fragment. It is spoken through the voice of ''Grímnir'', one of ...
''. Snorri Sturluson identified Freyr as one of the Vanir
In Norse mythology, the Vanir (; Old Norse: , singular Vanr ) are a group of gods associated with fertility, wisdom, and the ability to see the future. The Vanir are one of two groups of gods (the other being the Æsir) and are the namesake of the ...
. However, the term ''Vanir'' is rare in Eddaic verse, very rare in Skaldic verse, and is not generally thought to appear in other Germanic languages. Given the link between Freyr and the elves, it has therefore long been suspected that ''álfar'' and ''Vanir'' are, more or less, different words for the same group of beings.[ However, this is not uniformly accepted.
A ]kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...
(poetic metaphor) for the sun, '' álfröðull'' (literally "elf disc"), is of uncertain meaning but is to some suggestive of a close link between elves and the sun.[
Although the relevant words are of slightly uncertain meaning, it seems fairly clear that Völundr is described as one of the elves in '' Völundarkviða''. As his most prominent deed in the poem is to rape ]Böðvildr
Böðvildr, Beadohild, Bodil or Badhild was a princess, the daughter of the evil king Níðuðr/Niðhad/Niðung who appears in Germanic legends, such as ''Deor'', ''Völundarkviða'' and '' Þiðrekssaga''. Initially, she appears to have been a t ...
, the poem associates elves with being a sexual threat to maidens. The same idea is present in two post-classical Eddaic poems, which are also influenced by chivalric romance
As a literary genre, the chivalric romance is a type of prose and verse narrative that was popular in the noble courts of High Medieval and Early Modern Europe. They were fantastic stories about marvel-filled adventures, often of a chivalric ...
or Breton ''lais'', ''Kötludraumur'' and ''Gullkársljóð
''Gullkársljóð'' ('the poem of Gullkár') is an Old Icelandic Eddaic poem in the ''fornyrðislag'' metre.
Although in Eddaic metre and attested in post-medieval manuscripts of the Poetic Edda, the poem has not been included in the canon of Edd ...
''. The idea also occurs in later traditions in Scandinavia and beyond, so it may be an early attestation of a prominent tradition. Elves also appear in a couple of verse spells, including the Bergen rune-charm
The Bergen rune charm is a runic inscription on a piece of wood found among the medieval rune-staves of Bergen. It is noted for its similarities to the Eddaic poem ''Skírnismál'' (particularly stanza 36);Klaus von See, Beatrice la Farge, Eve ...
from among the Bryggen inscriptions.
Other sources
The appearance of elves in sagas is closely defined by genre. The Sagas of Icelanders
The sagas of Icelanders ( is, Íslendingasögur, ), also known as family sagas, are one genre of Icelandic sagas. They are prose narratives mostly based on historical events that mostly took place in Iceland in the ninth, tenth, and early el ...
, Bishops' sagas, and contemporary saga
is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, from the Super NES to th ...
s, whose portrayal of the supernatural is generally restrained, rarely mention ''álfar'', and then only in passing. But although limited, these texts provide some of the best evidence for the presence of elves in everyday beliefs in medieval Scandinavia. They include a fleeting mention of elves seen out riding in 1168 (in ''Sturlunga saga
''Sturlunga saga'' (often called simply ''Sturlunga'') is a collection of Icelandic sagas by various authors from the 12th and 13th centuries; it was assembled in about 1300. It mostly deals with the story of the Sturlungs, a powerful family cla ...
''); mention of an ''álfablót'' ("elves' sacrifice") in ''Kormáks saga
''Kormáks saga'' () is one of the Icelanders' sagas. The saga was probably written during the first part of the 13th century.
Though the saga is believed to have been among the earliest sagas composed it is well preserved. The unknown author cle ...
''; and the existence of the euphemism ''ganga álfrek'' ('go to drive away the elves') for "going to the toilet" in '' Eyrbyggja saga''.
The Kings' sagas include a rather elliptical but widely studied account of an early Swedish king being worshipped after his death and being called Ólafr Geirstaðaálfr ('Ólafr the elf of Geirstaðir'), and a demonic elf at the beginning of '' Norna-Gests þáttr''.
The legendary saga
A legendary saga or ''fornaldarsaga'' (literally, "story/history of the ancient era") is a Norse saga that, unlike the Icelanders' sagas, takes place before the settlement of Iceland.The article ''Fornaldarsagor'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1991 ...
s tend to focus on elves as legendary ancestors or on heroes' sexual relations with elf-women. Mention of the land of Álfheimr
In Norse cosmology, Álfheimr (Old Norse: , "Land of the Elves" or "Elfland"; anglicized as Alfheim), also called "Ljósálfheimr" ( , "home of the Light Elves"), is home of the Light Elves.
Attestations
Álfheim as an abode of the Elves is men ...
is found in ''Heimskringla
''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derived ...
'' while '' Þorsteins saga Víkingssonar'' recounts a line of local kings who ruled over Álfheim, who since they had elven blood were said to be more beautiful than most men.[ According to '']Hrólfs saga kraka
Hrólfs saga kraka, the ''Saga of King Rolf Kraki'', is a late legendary saga on the adventures Hrólfr Kraki, a semi-legendary king in what is now Denmark, and his clan, the Skjöldungs. The events can be dated to the late 5th century and the 6t ...
'', Hrolfr Kraki Rolf is a male given name and a surname. It originates in the Germanic name ''Hrolf'', itself a contraction of ''Hrodwulf'' ( Rudolf), a conjunction of the stem words ''hrod'' ("renown") + ''wulf'' ("wolf"). The Old Norse cognate is ''Hrólfr''. ...
's half-sister Skuld
Skuld (the name possibly means "debt" and is related to the English word "should") is a Norn in Norse mythology. Along with Urðr (Old Norse "fate"Orchard (1997:169).) and Verðandi (possibly "happening" or "present"Orchard (1997:174).), Skuld mak ...
was the half-elven child of King Helgi and an elf-woman (''álfkona''). Skuld was skilled in witchcraft (''seiðr''). Accounts of Skuld in earlier sources, however, do not include this material. The ''Þiðreks saga
''Þiðreks saga af Bern'' ('the saga of Þiðrekr of Bern', also ''Þiðrekssaga'', ''Þiðriks saga'', ''Niflunga saga'' or ''Vilkina saga'', with Anglicisations including ''Thidreksaga'') is an Old Norse chivalric saga centering the character ...
'' version of the Nibelung
The term Nibelung (German) or Niflungr (Old Norse) is a personal or clan name with several competing and contradictory uses in Germanic heroic legend. It has an unclear etymology, but is often connected to the root ''nebel'', meaning mist. The te ...
en (Niflungar) describes Högni
Haguna or Hagana is a historical Germanic name. It is attested in the form ''Hagano'' in Old High German (8th century) and as ''Haguna'' and ''Hagena'' in Old English. Old West Norse has ''Hǫgni'', presumably loaned from the character in German le ...
as the son of a human queen and an elf, but no such lineage is reported in the Eddas, ''Völsunga saga
The ''Völsunga saga'' (often referred to in English as the ''Volsunga Saga'' or ''Saga of the Völsungs'') is a legendary saga, a late 13th-century poetic rendition in Old Norse of the origin and decline of the Völsung clan (including the stor ...
'', or the ''Nibelungenlied
The ( gmh, Der Nibelunge liet or ), translated as ''The Song of the Nibelungs'', is an epic poetry, epic poem written around 1200 in Middle High German. Its anonymous poet was likely from the region of Passau. The is based on an oral tradition ...
''. The relatively few mentions of elves in the chivalric sagas
The ''riddarasögur'' (literally 'sagas of knights', also known in English as 'chivalric sagas', 'romance-sagas', 'knights' sagas', 'sagas of chivalry') are Norse prose sagas of the romance genre. Starting in the thirteenth century with Norse tr ...
tend even to be whimsical.
In his ''Rerum Danicarum fragmenta'' (1596) written mostly in Latin with some Old Danish and Old Icelandic passages, Arngrímur Jónsson explains the Scandinavian and Icelandic belief in elves (called ''Allffuafolch'').[
Both Continental Scandinavia and Iceland have a scattering of mentions of elves in medical texts, sometimes in Latin and sometimes in the form of amulets, where elves are viewed as a possible cause of illness. Most of them have Low German connections.][
]
Medieval and early modern German texts
The Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
word ''alp'' is attested only in a small number of glosses. It is defined by the ''Althochdeutsches Wörterbuch'' as a "nature-god or nature-demon, equated with the Faun
The faun (, grc, φαῦνος, ''phaunos'', ) is a half-human and half-goat mythological creature appearing in Greek and Roman mythology.
Originally fauns of Roman mythology were spirits (genii) of rustic places, lesser versions of their c ...
s of Classical mythology... regarded as eerie, ferocious beings... As the mare
A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...
he messes around with women". Accordingly, the German word ''Alpdruck'' (literally "elf-oppression") means "nightmare". There is also evidence associating elves with illness, specifically epilepsy.
In a similar vein, elves are in Middle High German most often associated with deceiving or bewildering people in a phrase that occurs so often it would appear to be proverbial: ("the elves/elf are/is deceiving me"). The same pattern holds in Early Modern German. This deception sometimes shows the seductive side apparent in English and Scandinavian material: most famously, the early thirteenth-century Heinrich von Morungen
Heinrich von Morungen or Henry of Morungen (died c. 1220 or 1222) was a German Minnesinger.
Life
Almost nothing about his life can be deduced from Heinrich's songs. Possibly he is identical with the ''Hendricus de Morungen'' who is documented in T ...
's fifth ''Minnesang
(; "love song") was a tradition of lyric- and song-writing in Germany and Austria that flourished in the Middle High German period. This period of medieval German literature began in the 12th century and continued into the 14th. People who wr ...
'' begins "Von den elben wirt entsehen vil manic man / Sô bin ich von grôzer liebe entsên" ("full many a man is bewitched by elves / thus I too am bewitched by great love"). ''Elbe'' was also used in this period to translate words for nymphs.
In later medieval prayers, Elves appear as a threatening, even demonic, force. For example, some prayers invoke God's help against nocturnal attacks by ''Alpe''. Correspondingly, in the early modern period, elves are described in north Germany doing the evil bidding of witches; Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
believed his mother to have been afflicted in this way.
As in Old Norse, however, there are few characters identified as elves. It seems likely that in the German-speaking world, elves were to a significant extent conflated with dwarves ( gmh, ). Thus, some dwarves that appear in German heroic poetry have been seen as relating to elves. In particular, nineteenth-century scholars tended to think that the dwarf Alberich, whose name etymologically means "elf-powerful," was influenced by early traditions of elves.[
]
Post-medieval folklore
Britain
From around the Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
, the word ''elf'' began to be used in English as a term loosely synonymous with the French loan-word ''fairy''; in elite art and literature, at least, it also became associated with diminutive supernatural beings like Puck, hobgoblin
A hobgoblin is a household spirit, typically appearing in folklore, once considered helpful, but which since the spread of Christianity has often been considered mischievous. Shakespeare identifies the character of Puck in his ''A Midsummer Nigh ...
s, Robin Goodfellow, the English and Scots brownie, and the Northumbrian English hob.
However, in Scotland and parts of northern England near the Scottish border, beliefs in elves remained prominent into the nineteenth century. James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
and Robert Kirk discussed elves seriously; elf beliefs are prominently attested in the Scottish witchcraft trials, particularly the trial of Issobel Gowdie; and related stories also appear in folktales, There is a significant corpus of ballads narrating stories about elves, such as ''Thomas the Rhymer'', where a man meets a female elf; ''Tam Lin
Tam (or Tamas) Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lyn, or Tam Lane) is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also ...
'', ''The Elfin Knight
"The Elfin Knight" () is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks. The ballad has been collected in different parts of England, ...
'', and ''Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (Child #4; Roud #21) is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads.
The most frequently collected variant, The Outlandish Knight or ''May Colvin'' tells the tale of a young w ...
'', in which an Elf-Knight rapes, seduces, or abducts a woman; and ''The Queen of Elfland's Nourice
"The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" or "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice" is Child ballad number 40, although fragmentary in form.
Synopsis
A mortal woman laments being taken from her four-day-old son. The Queen of Elfland promises that if she nurse ...
'', a woman is abducted to be a wet-nurse to the elf queen's baby, but promised that she might return home once the child is weaned.
Scandinavia
Terminology
In Scandinavian folklore
Nordic folklore is the folklore of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. It has common roots with, and has been mutually influenced by, folklore in England, Germany, the Low Countries, the Baltic countries, Finland and Sapmi. ...
, many humanlike supernatural beings are attested, which might be thought of as elves and partly originate in medieval Scandinavian beliefs. However, the characteristics and names of these beings have varied widely across time and space, and they cannot be neatly categorised. These beings are sometimes known by words descended directly from the Old Norse ''álfr''. However, in modern languages, traditional terms related to ''álfr'' have tended to be replaced with other terms. Things are further complicated because when referring to the elves of Old Norse mythology, scholars have adopted new forms based directly on the Old Norse word ''álfr''. The following table summarises the situation in the main modern standard languages of Scandinavia.[
]
Appearance and behaviour
The elves of Norse mythology have survived into folklore mainly as females, living in hills and mounds of stones. The Swedish ''älvor'' were stunningly beautiful girls who lived in the forest with an elven king.
The elves could be seen dancing over meadows, particularly at night and on misty mornings. They left a circle where they had danced, called ''älvdanser'' (elf dances) or ''älvringar'' (elf circles), and to urinate in one was thought to cause venereal diseases. Typically, elf circles were fairy ring
A fairy ring, also known as fairy circle, elf circle, elf ring or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms. They are found mainly in forested areas, but also appear in grasslands or rangelands. Fairy rings are detectable by ...
s consisting of a ring of small mushrooms, but there was also another kind of elf circle. In the words of the local historian Anne Marie Hellström:
If a human watched the dance of the elves, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world. Humans being invited or lured to the elf dance is a common motif transferred from older Scandinavian ballads.
Elves were not exclusively young and beautiful. In the Swedish folktale ''Little Rosa and Long Leda'', an elvish woman (''älvakvinna'') arrives in the end and saves the heroine, Little Rose, on the condition that the king's cattle no longer graze on her hill. She is described as a beautiful old woman and by her aspect people saw that she belonged to the ''subterraneans''.
In ballads
Elves have a prominent place in several closely related ballads, which must have originated in the Middle Ages but are first attested in the early modern period. Many of these ballads are first attested in Karen Brahes Folio
Karen Brahes Folio (Odense, Landsarkivet for Fyn, Karen Brahe E I,1, also known as Karen Brahes Foliohåndskrift) is a manuscript collection of Danish ballads dating from c. 1583. The manuscript contains the following names, presumed to be of its o ...
, a Danish manuscript from the 1570s, but they circulated widely in Scandinavia and northern Britain. They sometimes mention elves because they were learned by heart, even though that term had become archaic in everyday usage. They have therefore played a major role in transmitting traditional ideas about elves in post-medieval cultures. Indeed, some of the early modern ballads are still quite widely known, whether through school syllabuses or contemporary folk music. They, therefore, give people an unusual degree of access to ideas of elves from older traditional culture.
The ballads are characterised by sexual encounters between everyday people and humanlike beings referred to in at least some variants as elves (the same characters also appear as mermen, dwarves, and other kinds of supernatural beings). The elves pose a threat to the everyday community by lure people into the elves' world. The most famous example is ''Elveskud
"Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (; Danish for "Elf-shot") is the Danish, and most widely used, name for one of the most popular ballads in Scandinavia (''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'' A 63 'Elveskud — Elf maid causes man's sicknes ...
'' and its many variants (paralleled in English as ''Clerk Colvill
"Clerk Colvill" is Child ballad No. 42, otherwise known as "The Mermaid".
This ballad was one of 25 traditional works included in ''Ballads Weird and Wonderful'' (1912) where it was illustrated by Vernon Hill.
Synopsis
Clerk Colvill, ignoring th ...
''), where a woman from the elf world tries to tempt a young knight to join her in dancing, or to live among the elves; in some versions he refuses, and in some he accepts, but in either case he dies, tragically. As in ''Elveskud'', sometimes the everyday person is a man and the elf a woman, as also in ''Elvehøj
''Elvehøj'' (''Elf Hill'') is the Danish name of a Scandinavian ballad (''Danmarks gamle folkeviser'' no. 46), known in Swedish as ''Älvefärd'' (''Sveriges medeltida ballader'' no. 31), type A 65 ('knight released from elves at dawn') in '' ...
'' (much the same story as ''Elveskud,'' but with a happy ending), ''Herr Magnus og Bjærgtrolden
Hertig Magnus och Hafsfrun (''Sir Magnus and the Mermaid'') is a medieval Swedish and Nordic ballad and an 1867 operetta with libretto by Frans Hedberg and music by Ivar Hallström about the insane Swedish duke Magnus of Östergötland.
Backgro ...
'', '' Herr Tønne af Alsø'', '' Herr Bøsmer i elvehjem'', or the Northern British ''Thomas the Rhymer
Sir Thomas de Ercildoun, better remembered as Thomas the Rhymer (fl. c. 1220 – 1298), also known as Thomas Learmont or True Thomas, was a Scottish laird and reputed prophet from Earlston (then called "Erceldoune") in the Borders. Thomas ...
''. Sometimes the everyday person is a woman, and the elf is a man, as in the northern British ''Tam Lin
Tam (or Tamas) Lin (also called Tamlane, Tamlin, Tambling, Tomlin, Tam Lien, Tam-a-Line, Tam Lyn, or Tam Lane) is a character in a legendary ballad originating from the Scottish Borders. It is also associated with a reel of the same name, also ...
'', ''The Elfin Knight
"The Elfin Knight" () is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks. The ballad has been collected in different parts of England, ...
'', and ''Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight
"Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight" (Child #4; Roud #21) is the English common name representative of a very large class of European ballads.
The most frequently collected variant, The Outlandish Knight or ''May Colvin'' tells the tale of a young w ...
'', in which the Elf-Knight bears away Isabel to murder her, or the Scandinavian '' Harpans kraft''. In ''The Queen of Elfland's Nourice
"The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" or "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice" is Child ballad number 40, although fragmentary in form.
Synopsis
A mortal woman laments being taken from her four-day-old son. The Queen of Elfland promises that if she nurse ...
'', a woman is abducted to be a wet nurse
A wet nurse is a woman who breastfeeds and cares for another's child. Wet nurses are employed if the mother dies, or if she is unable or chooses not to nurse the child herself. Wet-nursed children may be known as "milk-siblings", and in some cu ...
to the elf-queen's baby, but promised that she might return home once the child is weaned.
As causes of illness
In folk stories, Scandinavian elves often play the role of disease spirits. The most common, though the also most harmless case was various irritating skin rash
A rash is a change of the human skin which affects its color, appearance, or texture.
A rash may be localized in one part of the body, or affect all the skin. Rashes may cause the skin to change color, itch, become warm, bumpy, chapped, dry, cr ...
es, which were called ''älvablåst'' (elven puff) and could be cured by a forceful counter-blow (a handy pair of bellows
A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...
was most useful for this purpose). ''Skålgropar'', a particular kind of petroglyph
A petroglyph is an image created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art. Outside North America, scholars often use terms such as "carving", "engraving", or other descriptions ...
(pictogram on a rock) found in Scandinavia, were known in older times as ''älvkvarnar'' (elven mills), because it was believed elves had used them. One could appease the elves by offering a treat (preferably butter) placed into an elven mill.[
In order to protect themselves and their livestock against malevolent elves, Scandinavians could use a so-called Elf cross (''Alfkors'', ''Älvkors'' or ''Ellakors''), which was carved into buildings or other objects.][The article ]
Alfkors
' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1904). It existed in two shapes, one was a pentagram
A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...
, and it was still frequently used in early 20th-century Sweden as painted or carved onto doors, walls, and household utensils to protect against elves. The second form was an ordinary cross carved onto a round or oblong silver plate. This second kind of elf cross was worn as a pendant in a necklace, and to have sufficient magic, it had to be forged during three evenings with silver, from nine different sources of inherited silver. In some locations it also had to be on the altar of a church for three consecutive Sundays.
Modern continuations
In Iceland, expressing belief in the ''huldufólk'' ("hidden people"), elves that dwell in rock formations, is still relatively common. Even when Icelanders do not explicitly express their belief, they are often reluctant to express disbelief. A 2006 and 2007 study by the University of Iceland's Faculty of Social Sciences revealed that many would not rule out the existence of elves and ghosts, a result similar to a 1974 survey by Erlendur Haraldsson. The lead researcher of the 2006–2007 study, Terry Gunnell
Terry is a unisex given name, derived from French Thierry and Theodoric. It can also be used as a diminutive nickname for the names Teresa or Theresa (feminine) or Terence or Terrier (masculine).
People
Male
* Terry Albritton (1955–2005), A ...
, stated: "Icelanders seem much more open to phenomena like dreaming the future, forebodings, ghosts and elves than other nations". Whether significant numbers of Icelandic people do believe in elves or not, elves are certainly prominent in national discourses. They occur most often in oral narratives and news reporting in which they disrupt house- and road-building. In the analysis of Valdimar Tr. Hafstein
Valdimar Tr. Hafstein (born 12 October 1972) is a professor of folkloristics and ethnology at the University of Iceland. He received his MA in folklore in 1999 and his Ph.D. in 2004 from the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied wit ...
, "narratives about the insurrections of elves demonstrate supernatural sanction against development and urbanization; that is to say, the supernaturals protect and enforce religious values and traditional rural culture. The elves fend off, with more or less success, the attacks, and advances of modern technology, palpable in the bulldozer."[ Elves are also prominent, in similar roles, in contemporary Icelandic literature.
Folk stories told in the nineteenth century about elves are still told in modern Denmark and Sweden. Still, they now feature ethnic minorities in place of elves in essentially racist discourse. In an ethnically fairly homogeneous medieval countryside, supernatural beings provided the ]Other
Other often refers to:
* Other (philosophy), a concept in psychology and philosophy
Other or The Other may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''The Other'' (1913 film), a German silent film directed by Max Mack
* ''The Other'' (1930 film), a ...
through which everyday people created their identities; in cosmopolitan industrial contexts, ethnic minorities or immigrants are used in storytelling to similar effect.[
]
Post-medieval elite culture
Early modern elite culture
Early modern Europe saw the emergence for the first time of a distinctive elite culture: while the Reformation
The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...
encouraged new skepticism and opposition to traditional beliefs, subsequent Romanticism encouraged the fetishisation of such beliefs by intellectual elites. The effects of this on writing about elves are most apparent in England and Germany, with developments in each country influencing the other. In Scandinavia, the Romantic movement was also prominent, and literary writing was the main context for continued use of the word ''elf,'' except in fossilised words for illnesses. However, oral traditions about beings like elves remained prominent in Scandinavia into the early twentieth century.
Elves entered early modern elite culture most clearly in the literature of Elizabethan England. Here Edmund Spenser
Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...
's ''Faerie Queene
''The Faerie Queene'' is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books IIII were first published in 1590, then republished in 1596 together with books IVVI. ''The Faerie Queene'' is notable for its form: at over 36,000 lines and over 4,000 sta ...
'' (1590–) used ''fairy'' and ''elf'' interchangeably of human-sized beings, but they are complex, imaginary and allegorical figures. Spenser also presented his own explanation of the origins of the ''Elfe'' and ''Elfin kynd'', claiming that they were created by Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titan god of fire. Prometheus is best known for defying the gods by stealing fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technology, know ...
. Likewise, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
, in a speech in ''Romeo and Juliet
''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
'' (1592) has an "elf-lock" (tangled hair) being caused by Queen Mab
Queen Mab is a fairy referred to in William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo and Juliet'', where "she is the fairies' midwife". Later, she appears in other poetry and literature, and in various guises in drama and cinema. In the play, her activity i ...
, who is referred to as "the fairies' midwife
A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery.
The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; co ...
".[; "Rom. & Jul. I, iv, 90 Elf-locks" is the oldest example of the use of the phrase given by the OED.] Meanwhile, ''A Midsummer Night's Dream
''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict a ...
'' promoted the idea that elves were diminutive and ethereal. The influence of Shakespeare and Michael Drayton
Michael Drayton (1563 – 23 December 1631) was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era. He died on 23 December 1631 in London.
Early life
Drayton was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothin ...
made the use of ''elf'' and ''fairy'' for very small beings the norm, and had a lasting effect seen in fairy tales about elves, collected in the modern period.[
]
The Romantic movement
Early modern English notions of elves became influential in eighteenth-century Germany. The Modern German
New High German (NHG; german: Neuhochdeutsch (Nhd.)) is the term used for the most recent period in the history of the German language, starting in the 17th century. It is a loan translation of the German (). The most important characteristic o ...
''Elf'' (m) and ''Elfe'' (f) was introduced as a loan-word from English in the 1740s and was prominent in Christoph Martin Wieland
Christoph Martin Wieland (; 5 September 1733 – 20 January 1813) was a German poet and writer. He is best-remembered for having written the first ''Bildungsroman'' (''Geschichte des Agathon''), as well as the epic ''Oberon'', which formed the ba ...
's 1764 translation of ''A Midsummer Night's Dream''.["Die aufnahme des Wortes knüpft an Wielands Übersetzung von Shakespeares Sommernachtstraum 1764 und and Herders Voklslieder 1774 (Werke 25, 42) an"; ]
As German Romanticism got underway and writers started to seek authentic folklore, Jacob Grimm rejected ''Elf'' as a recent Anglicism, and promoted the reuse of the old form ''Elb'' (plural ''Elbe'' or ''Elben''). In the same vein, Johann Gottfried Herder
Johann Gottfried von Herder ( , ; 25 August 174418 December 1803) was a German philosopher, theologian, poet, and literary critic. He is associated with the Enlightenment, ''Sturm und Drang'', and Weimar Classicism.
Biography
Born in Mohrun ...
translated the Danish ballad ''Elveskud
"Elveskud" or "Elverskud" (; Danish for "Elf-shot") is the Danish, and most widely used, name for one of the most popular ballads in Scandinavia (''The Types of the Scandinavian Medieval Ballad'' A 63 'Elveskud — Elf maid causes man's sicknes ...
'' in his 1778 collection of folk songs, ', as "" ("The Erl-king's Daughter"; it appears that Herder introduced the term ''Erlkönig'' into German through a mis-Germanisation of the Danish word for ''elf''). This in turn inspired Goethe's poem ''Der Erlkönig
Der or DER may refer to:
Places
* Darkənd, Azerbaijan
* Dearborn (Amtrak station) (station code), in Michigan, US
* Der (Sumer), an ancient city located in modern-day Iraq
* d'Entrecasteaux Ridge, an oceanic ridge in the south-west Pacific Ocean ...
''. Goethe's poem then took on a life of its own, inspiring the Romantic concept of the Erlking
In European folklore and myth, the Erlking is a sinister elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned i ...
, which was influential on literary images of elves from the nineteenth century on.
In Scandinavia too, in the nineteenth century, traditions of elves were adapted to include small, insect-winged fairies. These are often called "elves" (''älvor'' in modern Swedish, ''alfer'' in Danish, ''álfar'' in Icelandic), although the more formal translation in Danish is ''feer''. Thus, the ''alf'' found in the fairy tale ''The Elf of the Rose'' by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
is so tiny he can have a rose blossom for home, and "wings that reached from his shoulders to his feet". Yet Andersen also wrote about ''elvere'' in ''The Elfin Hill''. The elves in this story are more alike those of traditional Danish folklore, who were beautiful females, living in hills and boulders, capable of dancing a man to death. Like the ''huldra'' in Norway and Sweden, they are hollow when seen from the back.[
English and German literary traditions both influenced the British Victorian image of elves, which appeared in illustrations as tiny men and women with ]pointed ears
Pointy ears or pointed ears are a characteristic of numerous animals, at least one genetic disorder in humans, as well as a cliché in popular culture, particularly in the fantasy genre. They are commonly known as elf ears.
Animals
"Pointy ears" ...
and stocking caps. An example is Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...
's fairy tale ''Princess Nobody'' (1884), illustrated by Richard Doyle, where fairies are tiny people with butterfly
Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the Order (biology), order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The ...
wings. In contrast, elves are small people with red stocking caps. These conceptions remained prominent in twentieth-century children's literature, for example Enid Blyton
Enid Mary Blyton (11 August 1897 – 28 November 1968) was an English children's writer, whose books have been worldwide bestsellers since the 1930s, selling more than 600 million copies. Her books are still enormously popular and have be ...
's The Faraway Tree
''The Faraway Tree'' is a series of popular novels for children by British author Enid Blyton. The titles in the series are ''The Enchanted Wood'' (1939), ''The Magic Faraway Tree'' (1943), ''The Folk of the Faraway Tree'' (1946) and ''Up the ...
series, and were influenced by German Romantic literature. Accordingly, in the Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...
fairy tale '' Die Wichtelmänner'' (literally, "the little men"), the title protagonists are two tiny naked men who help a shoemaker in his work. Even though ''Wichtelmänner'' are akin to beings such as kobold
A kobold (occasionally cobold) is a mythical sprite. Having spread into Europe with various spellings including "goblin" and "hobgoblin", and later taking root and stemming from Germanic mythology, the concept survived into modern times in Ger ...
s, dwarves and brownies, the tale was translated into English by Margaret Hunt in 1884 as ''The Elves and the Shoemaker
"The Elves and The Shoemaker" (German: ''Die Wichtelmänner'') is a set of fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 39) about a poor shoemaker who receives much-needed help from three young helpful elves.
The original story is the first o ...
''. This shows how the meanings of ''elf'' had changed and was in itself influential: the usage is echoed, for example, in the house-elf of J. K. Rowling
Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and Philanthropy, philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to ...
's Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
stories. In his turn, J. R. R. Tolkien recommended using the older German form ''Elb'' in translations of his works, as recorded in his ''Guide to the Names in The Lord of the Rings
Translations of J. R. R. Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' have been made, with varying degrees of success, into dozens of languages from the original English. Tolkien, an expert in Germanic philology, scrutinized those that were under preparat ...
'' (1967). ''Elb, Elben'' was consequently introduced in 1972 German translation of ''The Lord of the Rings'', repopularising the form in German.
In popular culture
Christmas elf
With industrialisation and mass education, traditional folklore about elves waned, but as the phenomenon of popular culture emerged, elves were re-imagined, in large part based on Romantic literary depictions and associated medievalism
Medievalism is a system of belief and practice inspired by the Middle Ages of Europe, or by devotion to elements of that period, which have been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and variou ...
.
As American Christmas traditions crystallized in the nineteenth century, the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas
''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...
" (widely known as "'Twas the Night before Christmas") characterized St Nicholas himself as "a right jolly old elf." However, it was his little helpers, inspired partly by folktales like ''The Elves and the Shoemaker'', who became known as "Santa's elves"; the processes through which this came about are not well-understood, but one key figure was a Christmas-related publication by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast
Thomas Nast (; ; September 26, 1840December 7, 1902) was a German-born American caricaturist and editorial cartoonist often considered to be the "Father of the American Cartoon".
He was a critic of Democratic Representative "Boss" Tweed and ...
. Thus in the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland, the modern children's folklore of Santa Claus typically includes small, nimble, green-clad elves with pointy ears, long noses, and pointy hats, as Santa's helpers. They make the toys in a workshop located in the North Pole. The role of elves as Santa's helpers has continued to be popular, as evidenced by the success of the popular Christmas movie ''Elf
An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes "ligh ...
''.
Fantasy fiction
The fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...
genre in the twentieth century grew out of nineteenth-century Romanticism, in which nineteenth-century scholars such as Andrew Lang
Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University ...
and the Grimm brothers collected fairy stories from folklore and in some cases retold them freely.
A pioneering work of the fantasy genre was ''The King of Elfland's Daughter
''The King of Elfland's Daughter'' is a 1924 fantasy novel by Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany. It is widely recognized as one of the most influential and acclaimed works in all of fantasy literature.; pp 1124 Although the novel faded into rela ...
'', a 1924 novel by Lord Dunsany
Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, M ...
. The Elves of Middle-earth played a central role in Tolkien's legendarium
Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of ''The Silmaril ...
, notably ''The Hobbit
''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the '' ...
'' and ''The Lord of the Rings
''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's boo ...
''; this legendarium was enormously influential on subsequent fantasy writing. Tolkien's writing had such influence that in the 1960s and afterwards, elves speaking an elvish language similar to those in Tolkien's novels became staple non-human characters in high fantasy
High fantasy, or epic fantasy, is a subgenre of fantasy defined by the epic nature of its setting or by the epic stature of its characters, themes, or plot.Brian Stableford, ''The A to Z of Fantasy Literature'', (p. 198), Scarecrow Press, ...
works and in fantasy role-playing game
A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...
s. Tolkien also appears to be the first author to have introduced the notion that elves are immortal
Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life.
Immortal or Immortality may also refer to:
Film
* ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film
* ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film '' The Wisdom of ...
. Post-Tolkien fantasy elves (which feature not only in novels but also in role-playing games such as ''Dungeons & Dragons
''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...
'') are often portrayed as being wiser and more beautiful than humans, with sharper senses and perceptions as well. They are said to be gifted in magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
, mentally sharp and lovers of nature, art, and song. They are often skilled archers. A hallmark of many fantasy elves is their pointed ears.
In works where elves are the main characters, such as ''The Silmarillion'' or Wendy and Richard Pini's comic book series '' Elfquest'', elves exhibit a similar range of behaviour to a human cast, distinguished largely by their superhuman physical powers. However, where narratives are more human-centered, as in ''The Lord of the Rings'', elves tend to sustain their role as powerful, sometimes threatening, outsiders. Despite the obvious fictionality of fantasy novels and games, scholars have found that elves in these works continue to have a subtle role in shaping the real-life identities of their audiences. For example, elves can function to encode real-world racial others in video game
Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
s,[ or to influence gender norms through literature.
]
Equivalents in non-Germanic traditions
Beliefs in humanlike supernatural beings are widespread in human cultures, and many such beings may be referred to as ''elves'' in English.
Europe
Elfish beings appear to have been a common characteristic within Indo-European mythologies. In the Celtic-speaking regions of north-west Europe, the beings most similar to elves are generally referred to with the Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
term ''Aos Sí
' (; older form: ) is the Irish name for a supernatural race in Celtic mythology – spelled ''sìth'' by the Scots, but pronounced the same – comparable to fairies or elves. They are said to descend from either fallen angels or the ...
''. The equivalent term in modern Welsh is ''Tylwyth Teg
(Middle Welsh for "Fair Family"; ) is the most usual term in Wales for the mythological creatures corresponding to the fairy folk of English and Continental folklore and the Irish . Other names for them include ("Blessing of the Mothers"), and ...
''. In the Romance-speaking world
The Romance-speaking world, Romanophone world, Neolatin world, or Latin-speaking world, is the part of the world where Romance languages (those evolved from Latin) are either official, co-official, or significantly used, comprising Latin Europe an ...
, beings comparable to elves are widely known by words derived from Latin ''fata
, conventional_long_name = Federally Administered Tribal Areas
, nation = Pakistan
, subdivision = Autonomous territory
, image_flag = Flag of FATA.svg
, image_coat = File:Coat of arms ...
'' ('fate'), which came into English as ''fairy
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spirit, ...
''. This word became partly synonymous with ''elf'' by the early modern period. Other names also abound, however, such as the Sicilian ''Donas de fuera
The Donas hill is in Poland in the Pomerania region, within the borders of the City of Gdynia, in the Dąbrowa district. There are two summits, higher western 206.5 m, entirely forested, and the eastern one 205.6 m, the one with the GSM tower. In ...
'' ('ladies from outside'), or French ''bonnes dames'' ('good ladies'). In the Finnic-speaking world, the term usually thought most closely equivalent to ''elf'' is ''haltija
A haltija (haltia) is a spirit, gnome, or elf-like creature in Finnish mythology that guards, helps, or protects something or somebody. The word is possibly derived from the Gothic ''haltijar'', which referred to the original settler of a homeste ...
'' (in Finnish) or ''haldaja'' (Estonian). Meanwhile, an example of an equivalent in the Slavic-speaking world is the '' vila'' (plural ''vile'') of Serbo-Croatian (and, partly, Slovene) folklore
Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...
. Elves bear some resemblances to the satyr
In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, :wikt:σάτυρος, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, :wikt:Σειληνός, σειληνός ), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears ...
s of Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, who were also regarded as woodland-dwelling mischief-makers.
Asia and Oceania
Some scholarship draws parallels between the Arabian tradition of ''jinn
Jinn ( ar, , ') – also Romanization of Arabic, romanized as djinn or Anglicization, anglicized as genies (with the broader meaning of spirit or demon, depending on sources)
– are Invisibility, invisible creatures in early Arabian mytho ...
'' with the elves of medieval Germanic-language cultures. Some of the comparisons are quite precise: for example, the root of the word ''jinn'' was used in medieval Arabic terms for madness and possession in similar ways to the Old English word ''ylfig'', which was derived from ''elf'' and also denoted prophetic states of mind implicitly associated with elfish possession.
Khmer culture in Cambodia includes the '' Mrenh kongveal'', elfish beings associated with guarding animals.
In the animistic precolonial beliefs of the Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
, the world can be divided into the material world and the spirit world. All objects, animate or inanimate, have a spirit called ''anito
''Anito'', also spelled ''anitu'', refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associati ...
''. Non-human ''anito'' are known as ''diwata
''Anito'', also spelled ''anitu'', refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associa ...
'', usually euphemistically referred to as ''dili ingon nato'' ('those unlike us'). They inhabit natural features like mountains, forests, old trees, caves, reefs, etc., as well as personify abstract concepts and natural phenomena. They are similar to elves in that they can be helpful or hateful but are usually indifferent to mortals. They can be mischievous and cause unintentional harm to humans, but they can also deliberately cause illnesses and misfortunes when disrespected or angered. Spanish colonizers equated them with elves and fairy folklore.
Orang bunian
In Malaysian, Bruneian and Indonesian folklore, Bunian people or Orang bunian () are supernatural beings said to be invisible to most humans, except those with "spiritual sight". While the term is often translated as "elves", it literally transla ...
are supernatural beings in Malaysian, Bruneian and Indonesian folklore
Folklore of Indonesia is known in Indonesian as ''dongeng'' (), ''cerita rakyat'' () or ''folklor'' (), refer to any folklore found in Indonesia. Its origins are probably an oral culture, with a range of stories of heroes associated with wayan ...
, invisible to most humans except those with spiritual sight. While the term is often translated as "elves", it literally translates to "hidden people" or "whistling people". Their appearance is nearly identical to humans dressed in an ancient Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
n style.
In Māori culture, Patupaiarehe
Patupaiarehe are supernatural beings ( ) in Māori mythology that are described as pale to fair skinned with blonde hair or red hair, usually having the same stature as ordinary people, and never tattooed. They can draw mist to themselves, but te ...
are beings similar to European elves and fairies.
See also
* Svartálfar
In Norse cosmology, svartálfar ( O.N. "black elves", "swarthy elves", sing. svartálfr), also called myrkálfar ("dark elves", "dusky elves", "murky elves", sing. myrkálfr), are beings who dwell in Svartalfheim (''Svartálf eimr'', "home of the ...
* Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar
In Norse mythology, Dökkálfar ("Dark Elves") and Ljósálfar ("Light Elves") are two contrasting types of elves; the dark elves dwell within the earth and have a dark complexion, while the light elves live in Álfheimr, and are "fairer than th ...
Footnotes
Citations
References
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* Grimm, Jacob (1835), ''Deutsche Mythologie
''Deutsche Mythologie'' (, ''Teutonic Mythology'') is a treatise on Germanic mythology by Jacob Grimm. First published in Germany in 1835, the work is an exhaustive treatment of the subject, tracing the mythology and beliefs of the ancient German ...
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Further reading
* Goodrich, Jean N. "Fairy, Elves and the Enchanted Otherworld". In: ''Handbook of Medieval Culture'' Volume 1. Edited by Albrecht Classen. Berlin, München, Boston: De Gruyter, 2015. pp. 431-464. https://doi-org.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/10.1515/9783110267303-022
External links
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