In Germanic folklore, including Germanic mythology, a dwarf is an entity that dwells in mountains and in the earth. The entity is variously associated with wisdom, smithing, mining, and crafting. Dwarfs are sometimes described as short and ugly, although some scholars have questioned whether this is a later development stemming from comical portrayals of the beings. Dwarfs continue to be depicted in modern popular culture in a variety of media.

The modern English noun dwarf descends from the Old English dweorg, specifically the nominative and accusative form dweorh. It has a variety of cognates in other Germanic languages, including Old Norse dvergr and Old High German twerg. According to Vladimir Orel, the English noun and its cognates ultimately descend from Proto-Germanic *đwergaz.

A different etymology of dwarf traces it to Proto-Germanic *dwezgaz, with r being the product of Verner’s Law. Anatoly Liberman connects the Germanic word with Modern English dizzy: allegedly, dwarfs inflicted mental diseases on humans, and in this respect did not differ from elves and several other supernatural beings.

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