elf barrow

English

Noun

elf barrow (plural elf barrows)

1. Synonym of fairy hill
   • 1851, Benjamin Thorpe, Northern Mythology, volume II, London: Edward Lumley, page 117:

     The peasant may, however, provide against the evils above-mentioned, if, before he lets his cattle loose, he goes to the Elf-barrow and says; “Thou little Troll! may I graze my cows on thy mount?” If he gets no refusal, he may feel easy.

   • 1992, Johannes Møllehave, A Folk Legend, Copenhagen: Sesam, page 32:

     The nurse is old Cathrine, who was telling the servants about the trolls and the elf barrow while they were preparing the feast in the forest.

   • 2013, Helen Foxhall Forbes, Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon England: Theology and Society in an Age of Faith, Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate, page 93:

     Similar references to these spirits are also found in connection with mounds and barrows (hlæw or beorh), such as Shuckburgh (Warwickshire), which probably incorporates scucca and means something like ‘goblin hill’ or ‘demon hill’, or Shucklow (Buckinghamshire); Ailcy Hill (North Yorkshire) may refer to an elf barrow, since the first recorded reference to the mound in 1228 is ‘elueshou’, although how much earlier this name was coined is unclear.

   • 2021, Justin Mullis, “Fear, Faries, and Fossils: The Legacy of Arthur Machen's “Little People” Stories”, in Antonio Sanna, editor, Arthur Machen: Critical Essays, Lanham: Lexington Books, page 118:

     Neolithic burial mounds were commonly referred to as “elf barrows” or “goblin hills,” while megalithic standing stones—typified by the famous Stonehenge—were said to be trolls who had been turned to stone after being exposed to sunlight.