Elf-shot
Elf-arrows; fairy darts
- Known today as
- Prehistoric flint arrowheads turned up in the fields.
- Kind
- Amulet, in 1 older authority
- Earliest authority here
- Pliny (AD 23/24–79)
Revised October 3, 2026: An authority added from a text read in full. Checked against its sources, each read in full, in part, or in its abstract. Version 1, first published September 28, 2026.
Elf-shot: what was it used for?
Believed to be the arrows that fairies or elves shot at cattle; set in silver or gold and worn as charms, and used to cure a stricken beast, which was touched with one or given water in which one had been dipped.
Elf-shot: what does modern science say?
Archaeologists date such arrowheads to prehistory: one set in a post-medieval silver-gilt pendant found in Moray is a flint of the Early Bronze Age.
What Medicine Makes of It
- The ChangelingThe child that was exchanged, and the disabled child of the folk account.
Elf-shot: what lore surrounds it?
An Old English charm “For a sudden stitch,” in Cockayne’s translation, offers help whether the pain were the shot of the Æsir, of the elves, or of witches. In Scotland such arrowheads were set as charms from the late seventeenth century, and the fashion revived in the Victorian era.
Elf-shot: what did the older authorities say?
- Pliny
- Pliny describes among the stones the ceraunia, which Sotacus says “resemble axes in shape. Those which are black and round, he says, are looked upon as sacred, and by their assistance cities and fleets are attacked and taken: the name given to them is ‘bætyli,’ those of an elongated form being known as ‘cerauniæ.’” Another kind is “much in request for the practices of magic, it never being found in any place but one that has been struck by lightning.” The Catholic Encyclopedia files such things under the amulets “worn as a remedy or preservative against evils or mischief, such as diseases or witchcraft.”
Sources
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History 37.51, trans. J. Bostock & H. T. Riley (1855), Perseus Digital Library. Read in part · the text read
- The Catholic Encyclopedia (New York, 1907–1914), “Superstition.” newadvent.org/cathen/14339a.htm Read in full · the text read
- Treasure Trove Unit, National Museums Scotland (n.d.). Magical elf and safety. Treasure Trove Scotland blog. Read in full · the text read
- Cockayne, O. (ed. and trans.) (1866). Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England, vol. III. London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. Read in part · the text read
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026, and October 3, 2026
- Passes
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- Each quotation from the older authorities checked word for word against the text, read in full
- Every source read, in full, in part, or in its abstract, and every sentence checked against what was read (October 3, 2026)
- Sources
- 4 cited: 2 read in full, 2 read in part.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 28, 2026 · last revised October 3, 2026
- Chicago
“Elf-shot.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified October 3, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/elf-shot.
- MLA
“Elf-shot.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 3 Oct. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/elf-shot. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Elf-shot. (2026, October 3). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/elf-shot
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See Also
Also in Pliny the Elder
Endive in Pliny the Elder · Elecampane in Pliny the Elder · Epithymum in Pliny the Elder · Eagle-stone in Pliny the Elder · everything Pliny the Elder names →
Nearby in the alphabet
Epiphany chalk · Elder (Sambucus nigra) · Epiphany water (in the East as the Great Blessing of the Waters at Theophany) · Earthworm (washed in wine, dried, powdered, or boiled in oil) · Earth of the Holy Land
Historical description, not medical advice.