Re: CHAT: fantasy (was: Re: history of conlanging)

Jeffrey:
> Grandsire, C.A. <grandsir@...> comunu:
>
> > I know, Tolkien himself said that the word "Elves" was only a way (and
> > maybe not the best way) to translate in English the word "Quendi" that
> > they used to refer to themselves, and that they had nothing in common
> > with the "Elves" of the popular view.
>
> In fact, in the original draft of The Book Of Lost Tales he called them
> Gnomes.
(who became the Noldor, iirc)

The way I think of Elves is in terms of "Alfred". If a great king is
named for being counselled by elves, then presumably elves must be
sagacious and venerable and, furthermore, in some sense englishly
autochthonous. I imagine a more sophisticated version of this idea
was dominant in inception of the conception of Middle Earth elves.

--And.