elven
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɛlv(ə)n/
rhymes: -ɛlvən
Forms: form: more elven
form: most elven
Etymology: From the attributive use of Middle English elven (“elf or fairy of either sex”) (see etymology 1), like English elfin, reinterpreted as elf + -en (suffix with the sense ‘pertaining to; having the qualities of; resembling’ forming adjectives). The word first appears in the English author and philologist J. R. R. Tolkien’s works The Hobbit (1937) and The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955): see the quotations.
Senses: examples: text: The rocks echoed then with voices and with song, as they had not done for many a day. There was the sound, too, of elven-harps and of sweet music; and as it echoed up towards them it seemed that the chill of the air was warmed, and they caught faintly the fragrance of woodland flowers blossoming in spring.
ref: 1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Gathering of the Clouds”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, page 248:
text: Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, / Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, / Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, / One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne / In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. / One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, / One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, / In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
ref: 1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “The Shadow of the Past”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published September 1973, →ISBN, page 81:
text: He noted the telltale Elven features immediately—the hint of slightly pointed ears beneath the tousled blond hair, the pencil-like eyebrows that ran straight up at a sharp angle from the bridge of the nose rather than across the brow, and the slimness of the nose and jaw.
ref: 1977 April, Terry Brooks, chapter I, in The Sword of Shannara (A Del Rey Book), New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published May 1978, →ISBN, pages 16–17:
text: And now, this pitiless light, undiluted by elven love and judgment, burst through me like the arrows of the stars.
ref: 1990 spring, Michael Rutherford, “Knight of Darkness, Knight of Light”, in John Betancourt, George H. Scithers, Darrell Schweitzer, editors, Weird Tales: The Unique Magazine, volume 51, number 3 (number 296 overall), Philadelphia, Pa.: Terminus Publishing Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 127, column 1:
text: You know as a boy I was raised by the monks of Silban's Abbey, near the elven forest. I played with elven children, and before I came here, I hunted with Prince Calin and his cousin, Galain.
ref: 1992, Raymond E[lias] Feist, “Apprentice”, in Magician (The Riftwar Saga; 1), revised edition, London: Voyager, HarperCollinsPublishers, published 1997, →ISBN, page 21:
text: Not all of the elven folk are benign. There are dark elves, too, who do not wish humans well.
ref: 1996, David Goddard, “The Devas”, in The Sacred Magic of the Angels, Boston, Mass.; York Beach, Me.: Weiser Books, Red Wheel/Weiser, →ISBN, pages 107–108:
text: The elven lords stood in a half circle, ominously still and silent. […] Despite their beautiful faces and perfect forms, she knew the elven were evil.
ref: 2012, Kathryne Kennedy, The Lord of Illusion, Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks Casablanca, →ISBN, page 375:
synonyms: elfish
elvish
elvan
glosses: Belonging or relating to, or characteristic of, elves; elfin, elflike.
Derived terms: elvenfolk
half-elven