Erlkönig
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German
Alternative forms
Etymology
Calque of Danish ellerkonge (“king of the elves”), in which eller- was misinterpreted as German Low German Eller (“alder”), and which was thus translated into standard German as Erlkönig (Erle + König). This form was spread by Goethe’s famous poem, Erlkönig (1782). German Low German Eller is from Middle Low German elre, from Old Saxon elis.
Pronunciation
Noun
Erlkönig m (strong, genitive Erlköniges or Erlkönigs, plural Erlkönige)
- (European folklore) erlking
- 1909, Lily Braun, Memoiren einer Sozialistin [Memoirs of a Woman Socialist], Lehrjahre, München: Albert Langen:
- Ob ich mich wohl hinüber wagen könnte durch den Nebel? Erlkönigs Töchter tanzten hier, wie einst, da sie den hellsehenden Augen des Dichters erschienen.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
- (automotive, slang) car prototype
- 2013 October 6, Catarina von Wedemeyer, “Neuer Roman „Die Sonnenposition“: Sex mit einem Schwan”, in Die Tageszeitung: taz, →ISSN:
- Auch in seiner Freizeit interessiert sich der Psychiater für das Abwesende, für die Leerstellen des Lebens. Er jagt Erlkönige: getarnte Automodelle der kommenden Saison, die in nebligen Nächten Probe fahren.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Declension
Declension of Erlkönig
Descendants
- → English: erlking (partial calque)
