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ELVES, DWAEFS. 447
who have more dealings with mankind ; svartalfar are named in
abundance, liosalfar and dockalfar but fitfully.
One thing we must not let go : the identity of svartalfar and
dvergar.
Dvergr, Goth, dvairgs ? AS. dweorg, OHG. tuerc, MHG. tverc,
our zwerg, 1 answer to the Lat. nanus, Gr. vdvvos (dwarf, puppet),
Ital. nano, Span, enano, Portug. anao, Prov. nan, nant, Fr. nain,
Mid. Nethl. also naen, Ferg. 2243-46-53-82. 3146-50, and nane,
3086-97; or Gr. Trt^ato?. Beside the masc. forms just given,
OHG. and MHG. frequently use the neut. form gituerc, getwerc,
6080. 6591. Trist,
Nib. 98, 1. 335, 3, MS. 2, 15 a . Wigal.
14242. 14515. daz wilde getwerc, Ecke 81. 82. Wh. 57, 25.
Getwerc is used as a masc. in Eilhart 2881-7. Altd. bl. 1, 253-6-8 ;
der tiuerk in Hoffm. fundgr. 237. Can Oeovpyo? (performing
miraculous deeds, what the MHG. would call wuuder^re) have
the dwarfs resemble
anything to do with it ? As to meaning,
the Idasan Dactyls of the ancients, the Cabeiri and marai/coi : all
or most of the dvergar in the Edda are cunning smiths (Sn. 34.
48. 130. 354). This seems the simplest explanation of their
black sooty appearance,, like that of the Cyclopes. Their forges
are placed in caves and mountains : Svartdlfaheimr must there
fore lie in a mountainous region,, not in the abyss of hell. And
our German folk-tales everywhere speak, of the dwarfs as forging
in the mountains : von golde wirkent si diu spcehen were says
the Wartburg War of the getwerc Sinnels in Palakers, whereas
elves and elfins have rather the business of weaving attributed to
them. Thus, while dwarfs border on the smith-heroes and smith-
gods (Wielant, Vulcan);, the functions of elves approach those of
fays and good- wives (see Suppl.). 2
If there be any truth in this view of the matter, one can easily
conceive how it might get altered and confused, in the popular
belief of a later time,, when the new Christian notions of angel
and devil had been introduced. At bottom all elves, even the
light ones, have some devil-like qualities,, e.g. their loving to
1 In Lausitz and E. Thuringia querx, in Thiiringerwald querlich. Jac. von
Kbnigshofen, p. 89, has querch. In Lower Saxony sometimes tivdrm, for twarg.
2 In Bretagne the korr, pi. korred answers to our elf, the korrigan to our elfin ;
and she too is described like a fay : she sits by the fountain, combing her hair, and
whoever catches her doing so, must marry her at once, or die in three days (Villemarque
1, 17). The Welsh cawr means a giant.