Interpretation of "elves"

[jodel at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 46665

Audra writes:

>>Look what she did with elves.  To me, before HP, elves were beautiful, 
wise,  

human-looking creatures with pointed ears, nothing like Dobby and Winky. <<

You grew up on Tolkein elves. Which are a fairly recent literary inovation 
(around WWII, although he might not have been the first person to apply the 
term "elf" to that particular style of being.) Actually, Dobby and Winky are 
elves very much in the English folklore tradition. What Tolkein called 
"elves" would have been refered to as the Sidhe. 

The folkloric tradition seemes to have used the term "elf" almost 
interchangably with that of goblin, hobgoblin, hob, or dwarf, and all seem to 
be variants on the concept popularized by Mrs. Ewing's "Story of the 
Brownies". (Familiar to anyone who has ever been one.) In short, either house 
spirits or undeground dwellers generally refered to as the "little people" or 
the "good people" even though the interpretations varied as to just what size 
they might have been. Which term would have been used tended to vary as to 
region, but the creatures described seem to have been generally similar.

Dobby and Winkey are clearly in the traditional "House spirit" mode in which 
the spirit is bound to a place (not a family, however) until released by 
being given clothing. One of the best stories about this form of spirit is 
K.M. Briggs's Hobberdy Dick.

-JOdel