Online Encyclopedia

GNOMES (Fr. gnomes, Ger. Gnomen)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 152 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GNOMES (Fr. gnomes, Ger. Gnomen)  , in folk-lore, the name now commonly given to the earth and mountain
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spirits who are supposed to watch over
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veins of precious metals and other hidden treasures . They are usually pictured as bearded dwarfs clad in brown close-fitting garments with hoods . The word " gnome " as applied to these is of comparatively
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modern and somewhat uncertain origin . By some it is said to have been coined by Paracelsus (so Hatzfeld and Darmesteter, Dictionnaire), who uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmaei, from the Greek yvwjz , intelligence . The New
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English
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Dictionary, however, suggests a derivation from genomus, i.e. a Greek type ygvbµos, " earth-dweller," on the analogy of 9akavvovoµos, " dwelling in the sea," adding, however, that though there is no evidence that the
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term was not used before Paracelsus, it is possibly " a mere arbitrary invention, like so many others found in Paracelsus " (N.E.D. s.v.) .

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