I always figured it was supposed to be a single word that started with "eli" followed by 5 letters, in the manner of i18n.

The only English words I could find matching that pattern are elicited, elicitor, elidible, eligible, eligibly, elisions, elitisms and elitists - none of which seem apt, although "elicited" is tantalisingly close. From context I always read it as "elucidate" (elu6?)

So why isn't it Elif?