54: On the etymology of “elf”, Tolkien’s elves and misrepresentations of elves

 

Written by Linden Alexander Pentecost and published on the 19th of February 2025. This article discusses the meaning and etymology of “elf”, as well as lots of other information about what the etymology means, Tolkien’s elves, elves and Hvítramannaland and Valinor, and misrepresentation of elves. This article contains 1451 words as measured on Googledocs before uploading to this website, www.bookofdunbarra.co.uk , which is the only place where this article is published.

 

If you are a fan of J. R. R. Tolkien you will of course have heard of the “elves”, mystical humanoid beings, who live for a very long time, and who are in a sense guardians of Middle Earth. The more that I learn about the writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, the more I understand that he was successful in creating a mythology for the Anglic world. Tolkien’s Elves for example, are not just fantasy, in my opinion, but a re-telling of ancient European history. And especially when reading his written works I have picked up on certain things, that just make an awful lot of sense in the context of the mythology and folklore which I also study. I do feel that Tolkien did not “make up” his Elves, but rather, was trying to tell us about, and transfer to us knowledge of, beings that are a very real part of British (and Scandinavian) folk religion and traditions. The depth of Tolkien’s knowledge came especially apparent when I began to read his works more, as a lot of the smaller, very important points about these subjects are not included in film adaptions. 

Furthermore, Amazon’s series The Rings of Power is in my opinion so far removed from what Tolkien was describing. I feel that The Rings of Power takes the “idea” of the depiction of an elf, and has turned it into something that is so far removed from what Tolkien was originally describing, that it could actually be seen as an insult towards elves and towards what they are, both in the sense of Tolkien’s writings and in the sense of European folk religion. I feel that The Rings of Power is, by accident, helping to obscure and misrepresent the original mythology of Britain. I essentially feel that The Rings of Power gives a misrepresentation, and an often degrading misrepresentation of what “elves” are. This might not mean a lot to the those involved in the series, but for those of us, like myself, who acknowledge and believe that “elfs” are in fact real entities or ancestors, depictions like those in The Rings of Power could be called, in my opinion, a form of cultural appropriation as well as an appropriation of Tolkien's writings. And it also makes it harder for people like myself to teach others about some of these things, when vast amounts of money are going into projects that end up misrepresenting them. Note I have discussed different aspects to Tolkien’s work and languages in other publications outside of this article on this page.

On that note, what does “elf” mean, outside of the context of Tolkien’s works? I cannot give a complete or accurate answer, but I will try my best to describe what I have come to understand. First of all, the etymology of “elf” is important. “Elf” in English is connected to an older Germanic or pre-Germanic root word, often reconstructed as *alb- which is said to mean “white”. It does not, probably, mean “white”, and I will get onto this shortly. There are many cognates to the word “elf” in other Germanic languages, for example Swedish älvor - “elfs”, Icelandic álvar - elves, German Alpe - “elfs”. 

These words do not always describe the same type of beings. In Germany, and in Scandinavia, certain beings described as “elves” are described as being potentially hostile towards humans. This is not to say that these beings are “evil”, rather that we really need to respect them and to generally not step on their sacred territories in our realm, and to leave their places when our gut instinct tells us we should. In fact, for the most part I think it is better that their ancient sites are generally left alone, although if one finds oneself in one, there is no harm in acknowledging them, bowing, or leaving an offering of tobacco in some instances for example; although as I implied similarly in my recent article (number 53 on this website), I am not sure if tobacco or some other plant may be better. When we use this ancient root word to refer to ancestral spirits, we are not always referring to the same ancestors I don't think. One consistency seems to be that all of these beings though, may be associated with forms of light, whilst also having an aversion towards direct sunlight. 

Essentially, wrapped up in the root *alb- seems to be an idea of luminance, or light, and also, seemingly contrastingly, the idea of an aversion to light, specifically to sunlight. I do not know if this is consistent across the board, and it might seem contradictory that a being can give of light, and also have an aversion to sunlight, but I feel that the “light” associated with elfs, which they give off, is rather like a form of luminescence, and as we know from biology, many organisms that are light-sensitive produce their own kind of luminescence in a way.

This root word is also likely cognate to the Gaelic word Alba meaning Scotland, and to the *Brittonic term *Albi-on as an ancient name for Britain. There is also for example the Albiones tribe for Iberia, which may bare this name. There is also this idea concerning what Icelanders called Hvítramannaland, which was also called “Albania”, which seems to have been a mystical island associated with pale-skinned, presumably Albino people. We can also connect this root word to the name Albania, the country, and to the word “Albino” in English, which again describes pale skin and light-sensitivity. The author Farlay Mowatt in his book The Alban Quest does, from what I understand, connect this mystical island to the name Alba and to the suggestion of Alba being the name of a non-Gaelic tribe in ancient Scotland. I mentioned this and other related subjects in my books titled: 

1. From South Uist to Trenyken: mystical cultures and landscape change, published from UK and only available in print format.
2. Tsunami mysteries, tufter, drauger, celestial wheels of light, and prehistoric cultures – a book only published in PDF format, 18/10/2024 published via BookofDunbarra, which is based in the UK

(these are not two versions of the same book, although material from the first which was print only was published in the second along with lots of edits and more material. (which is PDF-only).

(I have still not read The Alban Quest) 

It is also clear that the word applies both to ancestral spirit beings and to beings that originally lived among us, including entire tribes that bare this name, and indeed it seems often to be implied that both are true, that “elfs” did once live among us, but that then, for some reason (which I have written and published about in other places) they left our physical realm, or at least, the visible, accessible parts of it. This is also similar to how the elves in Tolkien’s works left Middle Earth for Valinor, Valinor itself being a “physical place” but generally inaccessible to us, a part of the world that is physical but which is generally not visible. Hvítramannaland and other mystical islands seem to be real-world examples of the islands to which “elfs” or similar peoples went to after they left our realm, and it seems that much of this has to do with that these realms are shielded from the sun, or that our “sun” does not exist in these realms. This is a fascinating subject and connects in various ways to many things which I have published about elsewhere. I hope that this article helps to give some idea of what our ancestors in Britain and elsewhere were referring to as “elfs” , and is at least, far more accurate than the depictions of “Elves” in the Rings of Power for example, which are often in my opinion, quite frankly disgusting, especially for example how Galadriel is depicted and represented in The Rings of Power, which feels to me more like a representation of psychotic, egocentric power, rather than having anything to do with elfs or elves. 

 

Thank you for reading. I write it in honour and in respect of the elves and of J.R.R. Tolkien.