dark elf

English

Etymology

Back-formation from dark elves, a calque of Old Norse dǫkkalfar.

Noun

dark elf (plural dark elves)

1. (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.

2. (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

Some scholars think that in Old Norse the term for dark elves was a kenning for "dwarves".

Translations

a Dǫkkálfar

• Catalan: elf fosc
• German: Dunkelelb m
• Old Norse: Dǫkkálfar
• Swedish: mörkalv c, svartalv (sv) c

a member of a race of elves that is evil

• Czech: temný elf m
• German: Dunkelelb m
• Marathi: डार्क एल्फ m (ḍārka elpha)
• Swedish: mörkalv c, svartalv (sv) c

See also

• drow
• light elf

References

• Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinch's Mythology (1834; republished in 1970 by Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 348
• Mythology of All Races volume 2 : Eddic (1930, Marshall Jones Company), pages 220-221

Anagrams

• farkled