Re: Taxonomy of supernatural beings

> > I mean of course Tolkien's elves.
>
> In that case, they are certainly not jinns. Just very
> long lived children of Earth.
_jinn_ is derived from Semitic root g-n-n "to cover, hide, conceal",
so it seems not so big error to use it for any unvisible being.

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_jinn_ (one of) an order of spirits in Muslim
demonology. XVII. - Arab. _jinn_, coll. of
_jinni:_ GENIE (also _jinnee XIX).

_genie_ sprite of Arabian tales. XVIII. - F. _ g/enie_
GENIUS, used by translators of "The Arabian
Nights" to render Arab. word (see JINN)
which it resembled in sound and sense.

(The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology)

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jinni
demonic, demon, from jinn, demons, from janna, to cover, conceal. See gnn

gnn
Hebr. ma:ge:n < *maginn "shield", ga:nan "to cover, defend",
Arab. jinni:,  demonic, demon, from jinn, demons (< "invisible beings"),
from janna, to cover, hide, conceal.

(http://bartleby.com/61/)

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The Sixian loremasters says that both
Semitic association of this name with the rot g-n-n
and Latin association with the root g-n "kin"
(_genius_ < *gnjos)
are secondary etymologies
and that the original name for being made from fire
was from the same root as the word for the fire itself,
PIE. *(o)gni-,
in the same way as the name for both earth and
the beings made from it was
PIE *(de)gJHm-.

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But back to the elves.
The old elves have not so solid bodies
as they have when they were young.
It is even not so easy to distinguish
the living elf with 'faded' _hro"a_ (body)
from the bodyless _fe"a_ (soul)
of the dead Unbodied elf.

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As ages passed the dominance of their _fe"ar_  ever increased,
'consuming' their bodies.The end of this
process is their 'fading', as Men have called it; for the body
becomes at last, as it were, a mere memory held by the _fe"a_; and
that end has already been achieved in many regions of Middle-earth.

...

more and more of the Elves who linger in Middle-earth
now refuse the summons of Mandos,
and wander houseless in the world.

...

For how, it may be asked, shall a mortal distinguish the kinds?
On one hand, the Houseless,
on the other, the Lingerers,
whose bodily forms may no longer be seen by us mortals,
or  seen only dimly and fitfully.

(HoME X. - The Morgoth's Ring -
- Laws and Customs among the Eldar -
- of death and of the severance of fe"a and hro"a)

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> Assuming both Man and Jinn receive some kind of body
> they're used to in paradise!
We can only guess what will be after death, if anything.
No sensible god provides the mortals with this information,
because most of the mortals who think
that they know for sure the answer
are dangerous to their fellows.

> Are you sure the universe you dreamt
> last night didn't have a life of 60 billion years?
Of course I am sure, it is me who is omniscient there.

        P. A.

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