Re: IE Elves.

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 606
Date: 1999-12-16

junk
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Odegard
To: cybalist@eGroups.com
Sent: Thursday, December 16, 1999 1:59 PM
Subject: [cybalist] IE Elves.

Indo-European elves? Why not.

Edgar Polome, in the article "Elf" in EIEC rates the word *(a)lbh-, 'elf', as questionable. Besides Germanic 'elf', it's also related to Old Indic rbhú- 'artistic, learned; artisan, artist; orderer of time; one of a group of gods'; these are said to be highly skilled divine craftsmen. They are said to have made the chariot of the Asvins. A more questionable cognate is suggested by Old Church Slavonic rabu, 'servant'. In Germanic mythology, the elves have a good reputation on the whole, and are thought of as highly clever but frequently mischievous.

The underlying etymon would be related to Latin albus (white), Hittite alpa (cloud), etc.

Polome makes the suggestion at "the deep comparative level" that they are associated with the progression of the seasons, especially the winter death and rebirth of the sun.

If we get past the prettified, Spock-eared Tolkienized creatures of recent myth, there might be something to this.

There are few motifs worth looking at. First, they are 'light', 'bright', 'white'. Second, they are clever craftsman.  It's hard to not think of smiths, tending their forge-fires, making miraculously magical metal marvels. One is further tempted to suggest that just perhaps we have the (Western) IE word for "Bell-Beaker man".

The idea that we might also have some sort of solar companions is not unreasonable either.

Mark.

I think I've got something on IE elves at home. If I find it I'll let you know. Count Slavic *orbU- (metathesised in your OCSl word) out, Slavic had no l-rhotacism, unlike Indo-Iranian. I think the Slavic word belongs to the etymon *orbh- (cf. E. orphan, German Arbeit). The Slavic word for work was *orb-ot-a: Polish robota, Russian rabota etc. Thanks to Karel Capek's novel about mechanical slaves with artificial intelligence, the word has been popularised worldwide in its truncated form ROBOT.
 
Piotr