Their roles as guardians and overseers of mines and treasures greatly overlaps with dwarves from German folklore. Gnomes are hardly the first instance of earth-bound spirits in mythology.Practically able to swim through earth and stone.A span was the distance between two opposing parts of the same hand, like from the fully-extended pinkie and thumb. The book was devoted to these elemental creatures and he interchangeably used "gnome" and "pygmy" to refer to the earth elementals. This particular book was first published in 1566. These elementals were, in a sense, creatures. 2 He stated that the universe was based on four building blocks called elementals. Paracelsus also had a belief system that strayed far from common religious beliefs in Europe at that time and modern times. He was a true Renaissance man, and combined alchemy, chemistry, physics and medicine to come up with new treatments. Paracelsus was a Swiss physician that made many medical advancements during the 16th century. These little people began showing up in texts in a book written by a man of many talents named Paracelsus. They do quite a bit of work for little people after all! OriginĪs you can now properly identify a gnome when you see one scampering behind a shrub, let's take a look at their mystical origins.Īccording to various sources, the word "gnome" may come from "genomoi", or "genomos", a Greek word that means "earth-dwellers". You may often see one of these little beings carrying tools, such as a pick-ax or a shovel. They may at times be portrayed as wearing small spectacles, too.
They are often portrayed as being older, with male gnomes often depicted as having long, gray beards. These hats may be one of the easiest ways to identify a gnome. Gnomes are often pictured wearing pointed, cone-shaped red or orange hats. Paracelsus described adult gnomes as being just over a foot tall in height.Īs mentioned above, gnomes are similar to elves and dwarfs in many ways.They are highly associated with forests, nature and gardens.They can be cheerful and helpful or devious and mean.Gnomes are said to be very adept at moving through earth.They were first described in a text by an alchemist in the 16th century named Paracelsus.
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