älva

• älfva (obsolete)

From Old Swedish ælf, from Old Norse alfr, from Proto-Germanic *albiz (“fairy, elf”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈɛlˌva/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: elva

älva c or f

1. A human-like creature from Swedish mythology similar to a fairy or elf. She is often a young beautiful female, and can sometimes be seen dancing in the mist. Feminine form of alv.
   • 1932, Evert Taube, “Calle Schewens vals [Calle Schewen's Waltz]”‎^[1]:

     Då vilar min blommande ö vid din barm, du dunkelblå, vindstilla fjärd. Och julinattsskymningen smyger sig varm till sovande buskar och träd. Min älva, du dansar så lyssnande tyst och tänker att karlar är troll. Den skälver, din barnsliga hand som jag kysst, och valsen förklingar i moll.

     Then my blossoming island rests [then rests my blossoming island] on your bosom, you dark blue, still ["windstill," currently windless] archipelago / bay. And the dusk of the July night sneaks, warm, to sleeping bushes and trees. My fairy [or "elf," but with different connotations], you dance so quietly, listening ["listeningly quiet"], and think to yourself [to avoid the ambiguity of just "think" here in English] that men are trolls. It trembles, your childish hand that I have kissed, and the waltz fades away in minor [key].

• alv
• väsen
• älv
• älvdans

• älva in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• älva in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• älva in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)