Elves that are not Elves

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Yomar
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Elves that are not Elves

Post by Yomar »

And this year Christmas is gone.
And this made me think again about something weired, here in my country especially before all these Holliday movies about Xmas imported from the U.S., often Santa's Elves were considered a completely different race, called Folletti.
At least so everyone around me called them when I was little.
The other races have all quite similar names, Gnome =Gnomo, Elf=Elfo, Orc=Orco, with some exeptions like Dwarf=Nano, but Folletto =?.
I don't know what's the exact English version or if it even exist, anyway after some research the closest that I came across are the Pixy (a Pixie variant) or an Elfin. (And the Bogy based on some old illustrations but hes bad or at least kinds meanie).
Those are the ones that resembled Santa Claus helpers the most.
I wonder how things are or were in others countries.
Beholded Wesnoth's Origins.
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Ravana
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Re: Elves that are not Elves

Post by Ravana »

Here santa has dwarves not elves.
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Yomar
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Re: Elves that are not Elves

Post by Yomar »

Here santa has dwarves not elves
Interresting, and what kind?
Like fantasy Dwarves, just small men, or are they like those of Snowhite (Clothed kinda Gnomes).
Or something else?
Beholded Wesnoth's Origins.
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Mathemagician
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Re: Elves that are not Elves

Post by Mathemagician »

In Canada, they're usually called elves, or sometimes Santa's helpers or Santa's little helpers. Which leads to this CollegeHumor skit.

But all the old folklore tends to get mashed together in English. Even the newer stuff isn't immune to the cultural melting pot. In The Hobbit, for instance, goblins/hobgoblins and orcs/uruk-hai were the same thing. Goblin was the english word and orc was the elvish word. But try telling someone today that orcs and goblins are the same.
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BTIsaac
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Re: Elves that are not Elves

Post by BTIsaac »

If it's local folklore, it might not have an equivalent in english. Of course you could look up the etymology of the word and attempt to translate it to english then stylize it to get an english equivalent.
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Yomar
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Re: Elves that are not Elves

Post by Yomar »

Another interesting thing is that the Leprechaun, here is also called Folletto Irlandese (Irlandese means Irish), so it seems that they are the same race (or a subspicie) just with a different outfit and culture.
And most Folleti (If not Santa's helpers), like to annoy people by pranking them like the Irish cousin.
Beholded Wesnoth's Origins.
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