elf
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- elve (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English elf, from Old English ielf, ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Ultimately probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”). Doublet of oaf.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
elf (plural elves)
- (Norse mythology) A luminous spirit presiding over nature and fertility and dwelling in the world of Álfheim (Elfland). Compare angel, nymph, fairy.
- c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene ii]:
- Every elf, and fairy sprite, / Hop as light as bird from brier.
- Any from a race of mythical, supernatural beings resembling but seen as distinct from human beings. They are usually delicate-featured and skilled in magic or spellcrafting; sometimes depicted as clashing with dwarves, especially in modern fantasy literature.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 281:
- All the fairy tales of my childhood were conjured up before my startled imagination, and appeared to be realised in the forms which surrounded me; I saw the whole forest filled with trolls, elves, and sporting dwarfs.
- (fantasy) Any of the magical, typically forest-guarding races bearing some similarities to the Norse álfar (through Tolkien's Eldar).
- A very diminutive person; a dwarf.
- (South Africa) The bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix).
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “elf” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
SynonymsEdit
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- → Arabic: إِلْف (ʾilf)
- → Dutch: elf
- → French: elfe
- → German: Elf, Elfe
- → Japanese: エルフ (erufu)
- → Korean: 엘프 (elpeu)
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
elf (third-person singular simple present elfs, present participle elfing, simple past and past participle elfed)
- (now rare) To twist into elflocks (of hair); to mat.
- c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
- My face I'll grime with filth, blanket my loins, elf all my hairs in knots, and with presented nakedness outface the winds and persecutions of the sky.
See alsoEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Marshall Jones Company (1930). Mythology of All Races Series, Volume 2 Eddic, Great Britain: Marshall Jones Company, 1930, pp. 220-221.
AnagramsEdit
AfrikaansEdit
< 10 | 11 | 12 > |
---|---|---|
Cardinal : elf Ordinal : elfde | ||
EtymologyEdit
From Dutch elf, from Middle Dutch ellef, elf, from Old Dutch *ellef, from Proto-Germanic *ainalif.
PronunciationEdit
NumeralEdit
elf
CatalanEdit
NounEdit
elf m (plural elfs)
CzechEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
elf m
DeclensionEdit
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- elf in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
- elf in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
DutchEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle Dutch ellef, elf, from Old Dutch *ellef, from Proto-Germanic *ainalif, a compound of *ainaz and *-lif. Compare German elf, West Frisian alve, English eleven, Danish elleve.
NumeralEdit
← 10 | 11 | 12 → |
---|---|---|
Cardinal: elf Ordinal: elfde |
elf
NounEdit
elf f (plural elven, diminutive elfje n)
- The number eleven, or a representation thereof.
DescendantsEdit
- Afrikaans: elf
- Berbice Creole Dutch: alfu, elfu
- Jersey Dutch: ālf
- Negerhollands: elf, elef
- Skepi Creole Dutch: elk
- → Sranan Tongo: erfu
- → Saramaccan: elúfu
Etymology 2Edit
Borrowed from German Elf, itself borrowed from English elf, from Old English ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Displaced native alf, from the same Germanic source.
NounEdit
elf m (plural elfen or elven, diminutive elfje n, feminine elve or elfin)
SynonymsEdit
- (mythical being): alf
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
- → Papiamentu: èlfye (from the diminutive)
AnagramsEdit
Dutch Low SaxonEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Low German, from Middle Low German elvene, from Old Saxon ellevan. Related to German elf.
NumeralEdit
elf
- eleven (11)
GermanEdit
< 10 | 11 | 12 > |
---|---|---|
Cardinal : elf Ordinal : elfte | ||
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle High German eilf, eilef, einlif, from Old High German einlif, from Proto-Germanic *ainalif, a compound of *ainaz and *-lif. Until the 19th century usually written eilf; the monophthongal form is of Central and Low German origin (Middle Low German elf). Compare Dutch elf, West Frisian alve, English eleven, Danish elleve.
PronunciationEdit
NumeralEdit
elf
Coordinate termsEdit
- 100: hundert, einhundert
- 103: tausend, eintausend
- 104: zehntausend (Myriade)
- 106: Million (tausendmaltausend, tausendtausend)
- 109: Milliarde
- 1012: Billion
- 1015: Billiarde
- 1018: Trillion
- 1021: Trilliarde
- 1024: Quadrillion
- 1027: Quadrilliarde
- 1030: Quintillion
- 1033: Quintilliarde
- 1036: Sextillion
- 1039: Sextilliarde
- 1042: Septillion
- 1045: Septilliarde
- 1048: Oktillion
- 1051: Oktilliarde
- 1054: Nonillion
- 1057: Nonilliarde
- 1060: Dezillion
- 1063: Dezilliarde
- 1066: Undezillion
- 1069: Undezilliarde
- 1072: Duodezillion
- 1075: Duodezilliarde
- 1078: Tredezillion
- 1081: Tredezilliarde
- 1084: Quattuordezillion
- 1087: Quattuordezilliarde
…
- 10100: Googol
…
- 10120: Vigintillion
- 10123: Vigintilliarde
…
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “elf” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
- “elf” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
- “elf” in Duden online
- elf on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia de
German Low GermanEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle Low German elvene, from Old Saxon ellevan.
NumeralEdit
elf
MalteseEdit
10000 | ||
1,000 | ||
---|---|---|
100 | ||
Cardinal: elf |
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NumeralEdit
elf m or f (dual elfejn, plural eluf or elufijiet, paucal elef)
Middle EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old English elf, Anglian form of ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”).
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
elf (plural elves)
- elf, fairy
- c. 1450, Wars of Alexander[1], Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, passus 24, line 5258:
- Scho was so faire & so fresche · as faucon hire semed, / An elfe out of an-othire erde · or ellis an Aungell
- She was so fair and beautiful; her elegance seemed like / An elf out of another world, or else an angel.
- c. 1450, “The Second Shepherds' Play”, in The Towneley Plays[2], Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse, line 616:
- he was takyn with an elfe / I saw it myself / when the clok stroke twelf / was he forshapyn
- He was taken by an elf; I saw it myself. / When the clock struck twelve, he was transfigured.
- spirit, shade
Related termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “elf, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-12.
Pennsylvania GermanEdit
< 10 | 11 | 12 > |
---|---|---|
Cardinal : elf Ordinal : elft | ||
EtymologyEdit
From Rhine Franconian, from Old High German einlif. Compare German elf, Dutch elf, English eleven.
PronunciationEdit
NumeralEdit
elf
PolishEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
elf m anim (diminutive elfik)
- elf (mythical or fantasy creature)
DeclensionEdit
Usage notesEdit
The plural for the Tolkien creatures is usually elfowie.
Derived termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- elf in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
- elf in Polish dictionaries at PWN
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
NounEdit
elf m (plural elfi)
DeclensionEdit
YolaEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English elf, from Old English ielf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi.
NounEdit
elf (plural elvès)
ReferencesEdit
- Jacob Poole (1867), William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, page 38