start>Elf

An elf is a creature of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally imagined as a race
of minor nature and fertility gods, who are often pictured as youthful-seeming men and women
of great beauty living in forests and underground places and caves, or in wells and springs. They have been portrayed to be long-lived or immortal and as beings of magical powers. Following J. R. R. Tolkien's influential The Lord of the Rings (in which a wise, angelic (and human-sized) people named Elves have a significant role) elves became staple characters of modern fantasy (see Elves in fantasy fiction and games).

Elf can be pluralised as both elves and elfs. Something associated with elves or the qualities of elves is described by the adjectives elven, elvish, elfin or elfish. According to a convention of modern fantasy, the 'v' in elven or elvish refers to human-sized elves (who correspond more closely to those of the old Germanic paganism), whereas the f in elfin or elfish refers to tiny-sized elfs (who correspond more closely to the folklore of the Renaissance and Romantic Eras). They are also called:

• Danish: Elver, elverfolk, huldrer or alfer (note alfer today translates to fairies). .
• Dutch: elf, elfen, elven, alven.
• English: (Old English) ylf; (Middle English) albe; (Current) elf, elves.
• German: Elb (m) Elbe (f), Elben; Alb (m) "incubus"; from the English: Elf (m), Elfe (f), Elfen "fairies".^[1]
• Icelandic: álfar, álfafólk and huldufólk (hidden people).
• Old Norse: álfar.
• Swedish: alfer, alver or älvor (note Älvor today translates to fairies).
• Norwegian: alv, alven, alver, alvene / alvefolket (note alvefolket today translates to elfpeople)