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WIKTIONARY VIA KAIKKI / WIKTEXTRACT

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35,981 English word records · 45,491 etymology sections in this online subset

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3 source sections across 1 headword matching “Elf”. These are separate from the reviewed results below.

Open the permanent entry for elf →
elfEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *albʰósder. Proto-Germanic *albiz Proto-West Germanic *albi Old English ielf Middle English elf English elf From Middle English elf, from Old English ielf, ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Ultimately probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”). Doublet of alf, awf, and oaf. The modern fantasy literature sense was popularised by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗
elfEnglish (en) · Etymology 1Source text

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *albʰósder. Proto-Germanic *albiz Proto-West Germanic *albi Old English ielf Middle English elf English elf From Middle English elf, from Old English ielf, ælf, from Proto-West Germanic *albi, from Proto-Germanic *albiz. Ultimately probably derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₂elbʰós (“white”). Doublet of alf, awf, and oaf. The modern fantasy literature sense was popularised by the works of J. R. R. Tolkien.

Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗
elfEnglish (en) · Etymology 2Source text

Genericized trademark, from the Isuzu Elf family of trucks.

Original Wiktionary entry and references ↗

From Wiktionary contributors; extracted by Tatu Ylonen / Wiktextract / Kaikki.org. Extraction source · CC-BY-SA-4.0. Selected source text is reformatted for display; language and section identity are retained.

Source dump: 2026-10-01 · Extraction: 2026-10-30. These dates identify a dump snapshot, not an individual page revision.

Snapshot checksums and coverage
SOURCE SHA-256
5ff2c072f8099f2d2ce484bd6957bf179f046d2ad37bc36555edf8bb84cb5291
CORPUS SHA-256
c4c2a77325141846709230e11c2959332acd630d53e52905b72d36211251b081
IMPORT RUN
73216b9a9b78ed3830994bf853103716f5a4dc57099e371e9f8fdc468facca26
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Mayhew–Skeat (1888)

1888; pinned HTML transcription updated October 28, 2024
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