lutin

imp, elf, pixie

Inherited from Middle French luitin (“mischievous demon”), a variation (with change of suffix) of older luiton, luitun (“marine monster”), itself an alteration (probably after Old French luitier (“to fight”)) of Old French nuiton, which itself was an alteration (after nuit (“night”)) of Old French netun (“marine monster, in rivers and seas”), from Latin Neptunus (“the god Neptune”). Doublet of Neptune. The semantic shift from the Greco-Roman god to a sea monster then evil folkloric creature has