erlking means in German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.
erlking is pronounced /ˈɜːlkɪŋ/.
Why “erlking” is a great word
A malevolent spirit or elf said to haunt forests and lure children to their deaths. The name is a partial calque of German Erlkönig (literally “alder-king”), itself an 18th-century mistranslation by Johann Gottfried von Herder of Danish ellerkonge, a variant of elverkonge (“king of the elves”), first attested in English circa 1790–1800. Unlike the generic, formless “bogeyman” of admonition or the ambivalent, often benevolent “elf” of broader folklore, the erlking is a specific, literary predator—a monarch of the wild with a single, lethal purpose. He is the whisper in the rustling alder branches, the pale, beckoning shape glimpsed between dark trunks at twilight, the cold hand that seizes the fevered child riding home: the forest’s ancient, active hunger, given a sovereign name and a siren’s song.
Etymology
Partial calque of German Erlkönig (literally “alder-king”), a mistranslation of Danish ellerkonge (“king of the elves”).
noun
- In German literature and modern folklore, a malicious elf or spirit who preys on children.“This line, and indeed the whole passage (lines 653-664), allude to the well-known poem by Goethe about the erlking, hoary enchanter of the elf-haunted alderwood, who falls in love with the delicate little boy of a belated traveler.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- myling 81% match — The soul of a dead but unbaptized child that roams the Earth. vs erlking →
- kobold 81% match — An ambivalent, sometimes vindictive, spirit that is capable of materialising as an object or human, often a child; a sprite. vs erlking →
- killcrop 80% match — A changeling. vs erlking →
- rusalka 79% match — A female water spirit that leads handsome men to their deaths underwater. vs erlking →
- changeling 79% match — In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches. vs erlking →
- lorelei 79% match — A siren; a temptress. vs erlking →
- spriggan 78% match — In Cornish folklore, a malicious spirit in the form of a wizened old man. vs erlking →
- mavka 78% match — In Ukrainian folklore, a forest spirit who lures men to their deaths. vs erlking →