dark elf
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Back-formation from dark elves, a calque of Old Norse dǫkkalfar.
Noun
[edit]dark elf (plural dark elves)
- (Norse mythology) A member of the race of Dǫkkálfar or Dark Alfs, creatures who live underground.
- 2017, Neil Gaiman, Norse Mythology, Bloomsbury Publishing, page 20:
- Nidavellir, which is sometimes called Svartalfheim, where the dwarfs (who are also known as dark elves) live beneath the mountains and build their remarkable creations.
- (fantasy) A member of a race of elves that is evil, has a dark (often greyish or bluish) skin and/or lives in dark places.
Usage notes
[edit]Some scholars think that in Old Norse the term for dark elves was a kenning for "dwarves".
Translations
[edit]a Dǫkkálfar
a member of a race of elves that is evil
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- Bulfinch, Thomas (1834; republished in 1970 by Harper & Row) Bulfinch's Mythology, →ISBN, page 348
- Mythology of All Races, volume 2: Eddic, Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pages 220–221