Editing Elf (section)

=== In proper names ===

Throughout the medieval Germanic languages, ''elf'' was one of the nouns used in [[Germanic name|personal names]], almost invariably as a first element. These names may have been influenced by [[Celtic languages|Celtic]] names beginning in ''Albio-'' such as ''[[Mars (mythology)#Celtic Mars|Albiorix]]''.{{sfnp|Hall|2007|p=56}}

[[File:Alden Valley - geograph.org.uk - 417197.jpg|thumb|Alden Valley, Lancashire, a place possibly once associated with elves{{sfnp|Hall|2007|pp=64–66}}]]

Personal names provide the only evidence for ''elf'' in [[Gothic language|Gothic]], which must have had the word *{{lang|got|albs}} (plural *{{lang|got|albeis}}). The most famous name of this kind is ''[[Alboin]]''. Old English names in ''elf''- include the cognate of ''Alboin'' [[Ælfwine]] (literally "elf-friend", m.), [[Ælfric]] ("elf-powerful", m.), [[Ælfweard]] ("elf-guardian", m.), and [[Ælfwaru]] ("elf-care", f.). A widespread survivor of these in modern English is [[Alfred (name)|Alfred]] (Old English ''Ælfrēd'', "elf-advice"). Also surviving are the English surname [[Elgar]] (''Ælfgar'', "elf-spear"), and the name of [[St Alphege]] (''Ælfhēah'', "elf-tall").<ref>{{cite dictionary |last1=Reaney |first1=P. H. |last2=Wilson |first2=R. M. |title=A Dictionary of English Surnames |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-860092-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl0000rean/page/6 6, 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofengl0000rean/page/6 }}</ref> German examples are ''[[Alberich]]'', ''[[Alphart]]'' and ''Alphere'' (father of [[Walter of Aquitaine]])<ref name=paul/><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Althof |editor-first=Hermann |title=Das Waltharilied |publisher=Dieterich |year=1902 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3AcnAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA114}}</ref> and Icelandic examples include ''Álfhildur''. These names suggest that elves were positively regarded in early Germanic culture. Of the many words for supernatural beings in Germanic languages, the only ones regularly used in personal names are ''elf'' and words denoting pagan gods, suggesting that elves were considered to be similar to gods.{{sfnp|Hall|2007|pp=58–61}}

In later Old Icelandic, {{lang|non|alfr}} ("elf") and the personal name which in Common Germanic had been *{{lang|gem|Aþa(l)wulfaz}} both coincidentally became {{lang|non|álfr~Álfr}}.<ref name=devreis/>

Elves appear in some place names, though it is difficult to be sure how many because other words, including personal names, can appear similar to ''elf'', such as ''al''- (from ''eald'') meaning "old". The clearest appearances of elves in English examples are ''[[Elveden]]'' ("elves' hill", Suffolk) and ''[[Elvendon]]'' ("elves' valley", Oxfordshire);<ref>Ann Cole, 'Two Chiltern Place-names Reconsidered: Elvendon and Misbourne', ''Journal of the English Place-name Society'', 50 (2018), 65-74 (p. 67).</ref> other examples may be ''[[Eldon Hill]]'' ("Elves'-hill hill", Derbyshire); and ''[[Alden Valley]]'' ("elves' hill valley", Lancashire). These associate elves fairly consistently with woods and valleys.{{sfnp|Hall|2007|pp=64–66}}