Board Thread:Online Discussion/@comment-180.95.18.10-20130528000937/@comment-10422843-20130612002430

Banneram wrote: Snow elves is a human translation of the word, the Falmer themselves reference themselves as such in their writing in chants.

Examples:

"The Snow Prince is come! Doom is at hand!" Fall of the Snow Prince

"Other times I see the pale flicker of happy moments which were once so common in the land of the Snow Elves." Dairy of Faire Agarwen

"We know that we can never again be the Snow Elves and live freely in this world" Dairy of Faire Agarwen

"And when the Snow Prince fell to ground, The Ice Elves divided above and below." The Betrayed.

It would be more accurate to say that Fal is the elvish word for snow and ice, and mer is similar to the human word of man.

I think fal means betrayed since in Dawnguard you get to talk to the last living pure snow elf and when you ask about the falmer he says oh you mean the betrayed ones