The origin of the word 'elf' is unknown. It might be related to Latin 'albus'(white) or 'alp'(high mountain) which might itself be derived from 'albus' or a Celtic equivalent, referring then to the white peaks of high mountains. Mythos etymology is loosey-goosey, and so 'elf' might be related to Sanscrit 'alvar'(a South Indian Hindu sect), meaning 'one who dives deep'. Perhaps, then, 'alp' and 'alvar' both refer to great vertical length-- high/deep. Anyway, I prefer Old Norse 'alfar'(elves) to 'elves'(cutesy connotation and used-up by now) or 'alf''. 'Alfar', besides just being a plural form, could be read as 'Alfaer'(alf + faery, or 'all-farer' suggesting shamanism(far-traveler)). And I see the Alfaeren as some kind of shaman-- one who dives deep into the sacred mythopoetic realm of the Wolken, the Mind of the Biosphere. Maybe a warrior-shaman, maybe a woo-woo shaman.
I like the word 'deep', as in 'deep mind', 'deep thinker', 'Deep Ecology', and 'deep elves'(Tolkien-- in The Hobbit?). As opposed to 'shallow', as in 'the shallows that are present-day planetary culture, in which one may easily drown'. I see the Alfaeren as ambiguous beings-- are they(we) human, or are they spirit-emanations of the Wolken? Well, either or both, but Deep. Perhaps 'deep' is related to Sanscrit 'deva'(god), ultimately.
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