Editing Elf (section)

==== Size, appearance, and sexuality ====

Because of elves' association with illness, in the twentieth century, most scholars imagined that elves in the Anglo-Saxon tradition were small, invisible, demonic beings, causing illnesses with arrows. This was encouraged by the idea that "elf-shot" is depicted in the [[Eadwine Psalter]], in an image which became well known in this connection.<ref name=grattan&singer/> However, this is now thought to be a misunderstanding: the image proves to be a conventional illustration of God's arrows and Christian demons.{{sfnp|Jolly|1998}} Rather, twenty-first century scholarship suggests that Anglo-Saxon elves, like elves in Scandinavia or the Irish ''[[Aos Sí]]'', were regarded as people.<ref>{{harvp|Shippey|2005|pp=168–76}}; {{harvp|Hall|2007|loc=esp. pp. 172–75}}.</ref>
[[File:Beowulf - ylfe.jpg|thumb|"⁊ ylfe" ("and elves") in ''Beowulf'']]

Like words for gods and men, the word ''elf'' is used in personal names where words for monsters and demons are not.{{sfnp|Hall|2007|pp=55–62}} Just as ''álfar'' is associated with ''[[Æsir]]'' in Old Norse, the Old English ''Wið færstice'' associates elves with ''ēse''; whatever this word meant by the tenth century, etymologically it denoted pagan gods.{{sfnp|Hall|2007|pp=35–63}} In Old English, the plural {{lang|ang|ylfe}} (attested in ''Beowulf'') is grammatically an [[ethnonym]] (a word for an ethnic group), suggesting that elves were seen as people.<ref name=huld/><ref>{{harvp|Hall|2007|pp=62–63}}; {{harvp|Tolley|2009|loc=vol. I, p. 209}}</ref> As well as appearing in medical texts, the Old English word ''ælf'' and its feminine derivative ''ælbinne'' were used in [[Gloss (annotation)|glosses]] to translate Latin words for [[nymph]]s. This fits well with the word ''ælfscȳne'', which meant "elf-beautiful" and is attested describing the seductively beautiful Biblical heroines [[Sarah]] and [[Book of Judith|Judith]].{{sfnp|Hall|2007|pp=75–95}}

Likewise, in Middle English and early modern Scottish evidence, while still appearing as causes of harm and danger, elves appear clearly as humanlike beings.<ref>{{harvp|Hall|2007|pp=157–66}}; {{harvp|Shippey|2005|pp=172–76}}.</ref> They became associated with medieval chivalric romance traditions of [[fairy|fairies]] and particularly with the idea of a [[Fairy Queen]]. A propensity to seduce or rape people becomes increasingly prominent in the source material.<ref>{{harvp|Shippey|2005|pp=175–76}}; {{harvp|Hall|2007|pp=130–48}}; {{harvp|Green|2016|pp=76–109}}.</ref> Around the fifteenth century, evidence starts to appear for the belief that elves might steal human babies and replace them with [[changeling]]s.{{sfnp|Green|2016|pp=110–46}}