Editing Elf (section)

== Post-medieval folklore ==

=== Britain ===

[[File:Scott-Minstrelsy-Works-v1-p195-True Thomas tune.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[Thomas the Rhymer]]'' in [[Walter Scott]]'s ''[[Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border]]''{{sfnp|Scott|1803|p=266}}]]

From around the [[Late Middle Ages]], the word ''elf'' began to be used in English as a term loosely synonymous with the French loan-word ''fairy'';{{sfnp|Hall|2005|pp=20–21}} in elite art and literature, at least, it also became associated with diminutive supernatural beings like [[Puck (folklore)|Puck]], [[hobgoblin]]s, Robin Goodfellow, the English and Scots [[brownie (folklore)|brownie]], and the Northumbrian English [[Hob (folklore)|hob]].{{sfnp|Bergman|2011|pp=62–74}} However, in Scotland and parts of northern England near the Scottish border, beliefs in elves remained prominent into the nineteenth century. [[James VI of Scotland]] and Robert Kirk discussed elves seriously; elf beliefs are prominently attested in the Scottish witchcraft trials, particularly the trial of [[Isobel Gowdie|Issobel Gowdie]]; and related stories also appear in folktales,{{sfnp|Henderson|Cowan|2001}} There is a significant corpus of ballads narrating stories about elves, such as ''Thomas the Rhymer'', where a man meets a female elf; ''[[Tam Lin]]'', ''[[The Elfin Knight]]'', and ''[[Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight]]'', in which an Elf-Knight rapes, seduces, or abducts a woman; and ''[[The Queen of Elfland's Nourice]]'', a woman is abducted to be a wet-nurse to the elf queen's baby, but promised that she might return home once the child is weaned.{{sfnp|Taylor|2014|pp=199–251}}

=== Scandinavia ===

{{See also|Huldufólk|Hulder}}

==== Terminology ====

In [[Scandinavian folklore]], many humanlike supernatural beings are attested, which might be thought of as elves and partly originate in medieval Scandinavian beliefs. However, the characteristics and names of these beings have varied widely across time and space, and they cannot be neatly categorised. These beings are sometimes known by words descended directly from the Old Norse ''álfr''. However, in modern languages, traditional terms related to ''álfr'' have tended to be replaced with other terms. Things are further complicated because when referring to the elves of Old Norse mythology, scholars have adopted new forms based directly on the Old Norse word ''álfr''. The following table summarises the situation in the main modern standard languages of Scandinavia.<ref name=olrik/>
{| class="wikitable"

! [[Language]]
! Terms related to ''elf'' in traditional usage
! Main terms of similar meaning in traditional usage
! Scholarly term for Norse mythological elves

|-
! [[Danish language|Danish]]
|''elver'', ''elverfolk'', ''ellefolk''
|''[[Neck (water spirit)|nøkke]],'' ''[[Nisse (folklore)|nisse]]'', ''[[Fairy|fe]]''
|''alf''

|-
! [[Swedish language|Swedish]]
|''älva''
|''skogsrå, skogsfru'', ''tomte''
|''alv'', ''alf''

|-
! [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] (''[[bokmål]]'')
|''alv'', ''alvefolk''
|''[[Vættir|vette]]'', ''huldra''
|''alv''
|-

! [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]
|''álfur''
|''[[huldufólk]]''
|''álfur''
|}

==== Appearance and behaviour ====

[[File:Älvalek.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|''Älvalek'', "Elf Play" by [[August Malmström]] (1866)]]

The elves of Norse mythology have survived into folklore mainly as females, living in hills and mounds of stones.<ref name="He-1">{{cite book|last=Hellström |first=Anne Marie |year=1990|title=En Krönika om Åsbro|isbn=978-91-7194-726-0 |page=36|publisher=Libris }}</ref> The Swedish ''älvor'' were stunningly beautiful girls who lived in the forest with an elven king.<ref>For the Swedish belief in ''älvor'' see mainly {{cite book|last=Schön|first=Ebbe|year=1986|title=Älvor, vättar och andra väsen|isbn=978-91-29-57688-7|chapter=De fagra flickorna på ängen|publisher=Rabben & Sjogren }}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Keightley|1850|pp=78–}}. Chapter: "Scandinavia: Elves"</ref>

The elves could be seen dancing over meadows, particularly at night and on misty mornings. They left a circle where they had danced, called ''älvdanser'' (elf dances) or ''älvringar'' (elf circles), and to urinate in one was thought to cause venereal diseases. Typically, elf circles were [[fairy ring]]s consisting of a ring of small mushrooms, but there was also another kind of elf circle. In the words of the local historian Anne Marie Hellström:<ref name="He-1"/>

{{Quote|... on lake shores, where the forest met the lake, you could find elf circles. They were round places where the grass had been flattened like a floor. Elves had danced there. By [[Tisnaren|Lake Tisnaren]], I have seen one of those. It could be dangerous, and one could become ill if one had trodden over such a place or if one destroyed anything there.<ref name="He-1"/>}}

If a human watched the dance of the elves, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world. Humans being invited or lured to the elf dance is a common motif transferred from older Scandinavian ballads.{{sfnp|Taylor|2014}}

Elves were not exclusively young and beautiful. In the Swedish folktale ''Little Rosa and Long Leda'', an elvish woman (''älvakvinna'') arrives in the end and saves the heroine, Little Rose, on the condition that the king's cattle no longer graze on her hill. She is described as a beautiful old woman and by her aspect people saw that she belonged to the ''subterraneans''.<ref>{{cite book |chapter=Lilla Rosa och Långa Leda |title=Svenska folksagor |trans-title=Swedish Folktales |language=Swedish |year=1984 |publisher=Almquist & Wiksell Förlag AB |location=Stockholm |page=158}}</ref>

==== In ballads ====

Elves have a prominent place in several closely related ballads, which must have originated in the Middle Ages but are first attested in the early modern period.{{sfnp|Taylor|2014|pp=199–251}} Many of these ballads are first attested in [[Karen Brahes Folio]], a Danish manuscript from the 1570s, but they circulated widely in Scandinavia and northern Britain. They sometimes mention elves because they were learned by heart, even though that term had become archaic in everyday usage. They have therefore played a major role in transmitting traditional ideas about elves in post-medieval cultures. Indeed, some of the early modern ballads are still quite widely known, whether through school syllabuses or contemporary folk music. They, therefore, give people an unusual degree of access to ideas of elves from older traditional culture.{{sfnp|Taylor|2014|pp=264–66}}

The ballads are characterised by sexual encounters between everyday people and humanlike beings referred to in at least some variants as elves (the same characters also appear as [[Merman|mermen]], dwarves, and other kinds of supernatural beings). The elves pose a threat to the everyday community by lure people into the elves' world. The most famous example is ''[[Elveskud]]'' and its many variants (paralleled in English as ''[[Clerk Colvill]]''), where a woman from the elf world tries to tempt a young knight to join her in dancing, or to live among the elves; in some versions he refuses, and in some he accepts, but in either case he dies, tragically. As in ''Elveskud'', sometimes the everyday person is a man and the elf a woman, as also in ''[[Elvehøj]]'' (much the same story as ''Elveskud,'' but with a happy ending), ''[[Herr Magnus og Bjærgtrolden]]'', ''[[Herr Tønne af Alsø]]'', ''[[Ungersven och havsfrun|Herr Bøsmer i elvehjem]]'', or the Northern British ''[[Thomas the Rhymer]]''. Sometimes the everyday person is a woman, and the elf is a man, as in the northern British ''[[Tam Lin]]'', ''[[The Elfin Knight]]'', and ''[[Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight]]'', in which the Elf-Knight bears away Isabel to murder her, or the Scandinavian ''[[Harpans kraft]]''. In ''[[The Queen of Elfland's Nourice]]'', a woman is abducted to be a [[wet nurse]] to the elf-queen's baby, but promised that she might return home once the child is weaned.{{sfnp|Taylor|2014|pp=199-251}}

==== As causes of illness ====

[[File:Alfkors.svg|thumb|upright=0.8|The "Elf cross" which protected against malevolent elves.<ref name="alvkors" />]]

In folk stories, Scandinavian elves often play the role of disease spirits. The most common, though the also most harmless case was various irritating skin [[rash]]es, which were called ''älvablåst'' (elven puff) and could be cured by a forceful counter-blow (a handy pair of [[bellows]] was most useful for this purpose). ''Skålgropar'', a particular kind of [[petroglyph]] (pictogram on a rock) found in Scandinavia, were known in older times as ''älvkvarnar'' (elven mills), because it was believed elves had used them. One could appease the elves by offering a treat (preferably butter) placed into an elven mill.<ref name=olrik/>

In order to protect themselves and their livestock against malevolent elves, Scandinavians could use a so-called Elf cross (''Alfkors'', ''Älvkors'' or ''Ellakors''), which was carved into buildings or other objects.<ref name="alvkors">The article ''[https://runeberg.org/nfba/0313.html Alfkors]'' in ''Nordisk familjebok'' (1904).</ref> It existed in two shapes, one was a [[pentagram]], and it was still frequently used in early 20th-century Sweden as painted or carved onto doors, walls, and household utensils to protect against elves.<ref name="alvkors" /> The second form was an ordinary cross carved onto a round or oblong silver plate.<ref name="alvkors" /> This second kind of elf cross was worn as a pendant in a necklace, and to have sufficient magic, it had to be forged during three evenings with silver, from nine different sources of inherited silver.<ref name="alvkors" /> In some locations it also had to be on the altar of a church for three consecutive Sundays.<ref name="alvkors" />

==== Modern continuations ====

In Iceland, expressing belief in the ''huldufólk'' ("hidden people"), elves that dwell in rock formations, is still relatively common. Even when Icelanders do not explicitly express their belief, they are often reluctant to express disbelief.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.novatoadvance.com/articles/2007/10/24/novato_living/doc471fb91b8f622734769663.txt|title=Novatoadvance.com, Chasing waterfalls ... and elves|publisher=Novatoadvance.com|access-date=2012-06-14|archive-date=7 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207065640/http://www.novatoadvance.com/articles/2007/10/24/novato_living/doc471fb91b8f622734769663.txt|url-status=dead}}</ref> A 2006 and 2007 study by the University of Iceland's Faculty of Social Sciences revealed that many would not rule out the existence of elves and ghosts, a result similar to a 1974 survey by [[Erlendur Haraldsson]]. The lead researcher of the 2006–2007 study, [[Terry Gunnell]], stated: "Icelanders seem much more open to phenomena like dreaming the future, forebodings, ghosts and elves than other nations".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=40764&ew_0_a_id=290137|title=Icelandreview.com, Iceland Still Believes in Elves and Ghosts|publisher=Icelandreview.com|access-date=2012-06-14|archive-date=6 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206061839/http://www.icelandreview.com/icelandreview/daily_news/?cat_id=40764&ew_0_a_id=290137|url-status=dead}}</ref> Whether significant numbers of Icelandic people do believe in elves or not, elves are certainly prominent in national discourses. They occur most often in oral narratives and news reporting in which they disrupt house- and road-building. In the analysis of [[Valdimar Tr. Hafstein]], "narratives about the insurrections of elves demonstrate supernatural sanction against development and urbanization; that is to say, the supernaturals protect and enforce religious values and traditional rural culture. The elves fend off, with more or less success, the attacks, and advances of modern technology, palpable in the bulldozer."<ref name=hafstein/> Elves are also prominent, in similar roles, in contemporary Icelandic literature.{{sfnp|Hall|2015}}

Folk stories told in the nineteenth century about elves are still told in modern Denmark and Sweden. Still, they now feature ethnic minorities in place of elves in essentially racist discourse. In an ethnically fairly homogeneous medieval countryside, supernatural beings provided the [[Other (philosophy)|Other]] through which everyday people created their identities; in cosmopolitan industrial contexts, ethnic minorities or immigrants are used in storytelling to similar effect.<ref name=tangherlini/>