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As an interesting linguistic side note in the German translation the Elves are called Elben. I believe this term is only used for Tolkien-Elves. The term Elf/El
by kriro 7y ago
As an interesting linguistic side note in the German translation the Elves are called Elben. I believe this term is only used for Tolkien-Elves. The term Elf/Elfen exists in German as well and is commonly used in fantasy/RPGs to describe the standard pointy eared folks. Always thought that's a pretty curios thing.
- TsiCClawOfLight 7y agoThis is actually not a side note, but a very important point. The German translation simply replicates what Tolkien did: He specifically used elf/elves in order to differentiate his creatures from the shakespeare-esque tiny fairies, which were much closer to what Disney did in Peter Pan than to his vision. The correct English spelling at the time was elf/elfs, and he had to fight the proof readers and editors who constantly tried to correct his spelling. Interestingly though, dwarf/dwarves, while also wrong (the plural would have been dwarfs), was actually an accident, since his dwarves are not too different from previous folklore. Which explains why the German translation uses the standard "Zwerg" for them.
- mordechai9000 7y agoThere is also the poem by Goethe, "Der Erlkönig". Although a literal translation would be The Alder King, it is usually translated to English as The Elf King. Alder King does fit with the traditional idea of elves/faeries as non human spirits or supernatural beings associated with nature, who sometimes spirit away mortals to live in the fairy realm. According to Wikipedia, the idea for the poem is believed to trace back to a Danish story about an Elf King. And Elf King in Danish sounds a bit like Alder King in German.