An Elf By Any Other Name . . .

[Zardnaar]

Would that make the Romulans the Dark Elves?

More or less.

Also see Warhammer 40k. Or Melinboneans.

 

[GMMichael]

Pretty obvious to me - no one wants their elves confused with the cookie-making or Santa-helping folk.

 

[Jmarso]

Let's not forget the Dalish of DragonAge.

I'm not sure anyone should ping on Tolkien here- I'm not sure elves would exist in most fantasy milieus without him setting the bar.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Pretty obvious to me - no one wants their elves confused with the cookie-making or Santa-helping folk.

Who are actually gnomes who lied on their birth certificates.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think we would've seen elves more in line with folklore/faerytale depictions, like Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter and the Eddas. They'd be more magical and strange, probably a whole lot shorter.

I'm not sure anyone should ping on Tolkien here- I'm not sure elves would exist in most fantasy milieus without him setting the bar.

Early in their development, what would become the Noldor were referred to as gnomes by Tolkien, so it's not entirely outrageous...

Who are actually gnomes who lied on their birth certificates.

 

[MoonSong]

As someone guilty of this, let me explain myself. First of all, I wasn't out to replicate elves by another name. Don't get me wrong, I love elves. They are my favorite race in D&D, a close second/third in Magic and my favorite Yugioh card was an Elf, but I digress. I set out to make a setting that was human-centric with only variations of the idea of a human. I also set out to avoid using standard fantasy races -though angels/demons and living vampires made the cut-. One of these involved a fey-like trickster race that started as a mix of foxes as tricksters, cat people, and worldwide lycantropes and animal like shapeshifter myths and legends. The result was a gracile and lean race of people with pointy ears, magical inclination and a connection with the mystical and nature. At that point I had a very elf-like race so I admitted defeat and just went with "ok, they are elves by another name". but hey, at least I have some unique traits like them having a limited shapeshifting ability and a hand claw/talon attack they do with their fingernails...

 

[Greg K]

Are the Blackbloods in The Outpost, essentially, a type of elf?

 

[Tonguez]

I think we would've seen elves more in line with folklore/faerytale depictions, like Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter and the Eddas. They'd be more magical and strange, probably a whole lot shorter.

Not necessarily shorter - theres still the the Arthurian Romances as a source of figures Like the Lady of the Lake and Queen Mab (even Morgana in some tellings), Shakespeares Titania, Oberon, Puck and of course the Tuatha DeDanann

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That's true, the term "elf" was used very differently in ancient tales, sometimes interchangeably with "faery."

Not necessarily shorter - theres still the the Arthurian Romances as a source of figures Like the Lady of the Lake and Queen Mab (even Morgana in some tellings), Shakespeares Titania, Oberon, Puck and of course the Tuatha DeDanann

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

elfin | Etymology of elfin by etymonline

"of or pertaining to elves," 1590s, from elf; first found in Spenser, who also used it as… See origin and meaning of elfin.

www.etymonline.com

Interesting that Elf is the masculine and Elfen is the feminine and probably where the word elfin came from for describing the fine and petite features of smaller women.