wood-elf

English

Etymology

wood +‎ elf

Noun

wood-elf (plural wood-elves)

1. (fantasy) An elf which inhabits woodland, usually depicted as a subrace of elf.
   • 1893 February, Robert Fortune, “Earlscourt : A Novel of Provincial Life”, in Blackwood's Magazine‎^[1], volume DCCCCXXVIII, number CLIII, page 191:

     It was quite clear now, even if proof had not been needed before, that poor George was not clever, or he would never have picked out such a wife. It was no answer to this argument that Magdalen had the free beauty of a wood-elf, or that the general, her father, had brought a heavy store of Indian rupees back with him to his native town. George Fossebraye was too dull to be supposed to be susceptible to beauty or to be influenced by prudent motives.

   • 1993, Our Troth, the Ring of Troth and other true folk, →ISBN, page 227:

     The word alf (alfr/elf) is used for many sorts of wight: not only the Light Alfs, Dark Alfs (mound-elves), and Swart Alfs that Grimm separates out of German folklore and the Norse sources, but also different sorts of land wights (wood-elves, field elves, water-elves, and sea-elves).

   • 1999, Thunder, issue 11, Ceremony for the Handfasting of Dragon Earthson and Thorskegga Thorn (Math Jones):

     To wood-elf and field-elf I pour out this greeting, And bid you bless this holy rite.

   • 2001, Thunder, issue 18, The Courting of Nanna (Thorskegga Thorn):

     Late in the night when the midnight sun cast a long shadow from the caves peak over his camp, Hother crept into the wood-elf's cave, overpowered him and bound him securely.

Alternative forms

• wood elf, woodelf

Translations

elf which inhabits woodland

• German: Waldelb m