Gnome

Gnome

Gnom mit Zeitung und Tabakspfeife (English: Gnome with newspaper and tobacco pipe) by Heinrich Schlitt (1923)
Grouping	Diminutive spirit
Folklore	Renaissance
First attested	16th century

A gnome (

Lawn ornaments crafted as gnomes were introduced during the 19th century, growing in popularity during the 20th century as garden gnomes.

History

Origins

The word comes from Renaissance Latin gnomus, which first appears in A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits by Paracelsus, published posthumously in Nysa in 1566 (and again in the Johannes Huser edition of 1589–1591 from an autograph by Paracelsus).^[3][4]

The term may be an original invention of Paracelsus, possibly deriving the term from Latin gēnomos (itself representing a Greek γη-νομος, approximately "gē-nomos", literally "earth-dweller"). In this case, the omission of the ē is referred to as a blunder by the

The English word is attested from the early 18th century. Gnomes are used in

Pope's stated source, the 1670 French satire Comte de Gabalis by Nicolas-Pierre-Henri de Montfaucon de Villars, the abbot of Villars, describes gnomes as such:

The Earth is filled almost to the center with Gnomes or Pharyes, a people of small stature, the guardians of treasures, of mines, and of precious stones. They are ingenious, friends of men, and easie to be commandded. They furnish the children of the Sages with as much money, as they have need of; and never ask any other reward of their services, than the glory of being commanded. The Gnomides or wives of these Gnomes or Pharyes, are little, but very handsom; and their habit marvellously curious.^[7]

De Villars used the term gnomide to refer to female gnomes (often "gnomid" in English translations).^[8] Modern fiction instead uses the word "gnomess" to refer to female gnomes.^[9][10]

In 19th-century fiction, the

The Russian composer Mussorgsky produced a movement in his work Pictures at an Exhibition, (1874) named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"). It is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about.

Franz Hartmann in 1895 satirized materialism in an allegorical tale entitled Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg. The English translation appeared in 1896 as Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg. In this story, the Gnomes are still clearly subterranean creatures, guarding treasures of gold within the Untersberg mountain.

As a figure of 19th-century

Modern fantasy literature

• Creatures called gnomes have been used in the fantasy genre of fiction and later gaming since the mid-nineteenth century, typically in a cunning role, e.g. as an inventor.^[11]
• In L. Frank Baum's Oz books (published 1900 to 1920), the Nomes (so spelled), especially their king, are the chief adversaries of the Oz people. They are ugly, hot-tempered, immortal, round-bodied creatures with spindly limbs, long beards and wild hair, militantly collecting and protecting jewels and precious metals underground. Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued the series (1921 to 1976) after Baum's death, reverted to the traditional spelling. He also featured gnomes in his book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. They watch over the rocks, their king is part of the Council of Immortals, and they created the sleigh bells for Santa Claus's reindeer.
• Nargothrond) or in secluded mountain fortresses (Gondolin). He uses "Gnomes" to refer to both males and females. In The Father Christmas Letters
  (between 1920 and 1942), which Tolkien wrote for his children, Red Gnomes are presented as helpful creatures who come from Norway to the North Pole to assist Father Christmas and his Elves in fighting the wicked Goblins.
• BB's The Little Grey Men (1942) is a story of the last gnomes in England, little wild men who live by hunting and fishing.
• In C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (created 1950 to 1956), the gnomes are sometimes called "Earthmen". They live in the Underland, a series of caverns. Unlike the traditional, more human-like gnomes, they can have a wide variety of physical features and skin colours where some of them are either standing at 1 ft or being taller than humans. They are used as slaves by the Lady of the Green Kirtle until her defeat, at which point they return to their true home, the much deeper (and hotter) underground realm of Bism.
• The Dutch books
  Wisdom of the Gnomes). The word "gnome", in this case, is used in place of the Dutch kabouter
  .
• In
  Weasleys
  are lenient to gnomes, and tolerate their presence, preferring to throw them out of the garden rather than more extreme measures.
• In A. Yoshinobu's Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, the European concept of a gnome is used in order to introduce the Far Eastern notion of the Koropokkuru, a mythical indigenous race of small people: gnomes are a persecuted minority banned from learning wizardry and attending magical schools.^[12]
• In Terry Brooks' Shannara series (created 1977 to 2017), gnomes are an offshoot race created after the Great Wars. There are several distinctive classes of gnomes. Gnomes are the smallest race. In The Sword of Shannara they are considered to be tribal and warlike, the one race that can be the most easily subverted to an evil cause. This is evidenced by their allegiance to the Warlock Lord in The Sword of Shannara and to the Mord Wraiths in The Wishsong of Shannara.
• Wee Mad Arthur a pest terminator in Feet of Clay
  .

• One of the first movements in Mussorgsky's 1874 work Pictures at an Exhibition is named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"). It is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about, his movements constantly changing in speed.

Gnomus by Mussorgsky, 1874

A classical piece of music written to sound as if a gnome is moving about.

• "The Laughing Gnome" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released as a single in 1967. It became a hit when reissued in 1973, in the wake of Bowie's commercial success.
• The 1970 album All Things Must Pass by English musician George Harrison has a cover image of the musician sitting among a group of garden gnomes.
• "The Gnome" is a song by Pink Floyd on their 1967 album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. It is about a gnome named Grimble Gromble.

Games

• In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, gnomes are one of the core races available for play as player characters.^[13] They are described as being smaller than dwarves and large-nosed. They have an affinity with small animals and a particular interest in gemstones. Depending on setting and subrace, they may also have a natural skill with illusion magic or engineering.
• In the
  allied to dwarves and humans, with whom they share the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms. Crafty, intelligent, and smaller than their dwarven brethren, gnomes are one of two races in Azeroth regarded as technologically savvy. It is suggested in lore that the gnomes originally were mechanical creations that at some point became organic lifeforms. In World of Warcraft, gnomes are an exile race, having irradiated their home city of Gnomeregan in an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to drive out marauding foes.^[14]

Movies

• The 1967 Walt Disney movie The Gnome-Mobile

• The 2011 animated movie Gnomeo & Juliet

• The 2018 animated movie Sherlock Gnomes featured gnomish versions of several classic Sherlock Holmes characters.^[15]

TV Shows

• The Disney+ Series The Santa Clauses
• The Little Troll Prince features the troll prince Bu, turning into a gnome and gnomes by the end of the special
• David the Gnome , The Wisdom of Gnomes and The New World Of the Gnomes

Derivative uses

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Garden gnomes

Main article: Garden gnome

Historic garden gnomes on display at the Gnome Reserve in Devon, UK. The ornament on the left of the image was produced by Eckardt and Mentz in the late nineteenth-century,

By the late twentieth century the garden gnome had come to be stylised as an elderly man with a full white beard and a pointed hat.

After World War II (with early references, in ironic use, from the late 1930s) the diminutive figurines introduced as lawn ornaments during the 19th century came to be known as garden gnomes. The image of the gnome changed further during the 1960s to 1970s, when the first plastic garden gnomes were manufactured. These gnomes followed the style of the 1937 depiction of the seven dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney. This "Disneyfied" image of the gnome was built upon ^{[citation needed]} by the illustrated children's book classic Gnomes (1976), in the original Dutch Leven en werken van de Kabouter, by author Wil Huygen and artist Rien Poortvliet, followed in 1981 by The Secret Book of Gnomes. Garden gnomes share a resemblance to the Scandinavian tomte and nisse, and the Swedish term "tomte" can be translated as "gnome" in English.

Gnome-themed parks

Several gnome themed entertainment parks exist. Notable ones are:

• The Gnome Reserve, at West Putford near Bradworthy in North Devon, United Kingdom
• Gnomeland, at Watermouth Castle in Berrynarbor, North Devon, United Kingdom
• Gnome Magic Garden, at Colchester, United Kingdom
• Gnome Park, in Dawson, Minnesota, United States
• The Gnome Village, at Efteling theme park in Kaatsheuvel, Netherlands
• Zwergen-Park Trusetal, in Trusetal, Germany
• Gnom's Park in Nowa Sól, Poland.

Gnome parades

Gnome

Cleveland, Ohio (May 2011).^[18]

Metaphorical uses

• The expression "
  OED notes the New Statesman
  issue of 27 November 1964 as earliest attestation).
• Architect Earl Young built a number of stone houses in Charlevoix, Michigan, that have been referred to as gnome homes.
• A user of Wikipedia or any wiki who makes useful incremental edits without clamouring for attention is called a WikiGnome.^[19]

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Gnomes.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gnomes.

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Gnomes".

• Erdgeist
• Garden hermit
• Gnome (Dungeons & Dragons)
• Wrocław's dwarfs
• Travelling gnome

References

1. ^ "Gnome". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
2. ^ ^{a b} "Gnome". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Archived from the original on 17 April 2008. Retrieved 12 March 2008.
3. ^ Paracelsus (1566). Ex Libro de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris et Gigantibus, etc. Nissae Silesiorum: Ioannes Cruciger.
4. ISBN 0-89314-808-3
   .
5. ISBN 0-521-47735-2
   .
6. ^ Guerber, H. A. (1899). Legends of Switzerland. Dodd, Mead & Co. pp. 289–290.
7. OCLC 992499594
   .
8. OCLC 6624965. Archived
   from the original on 13 May 2015.
9. ^ 2007: Shadow on the Land, page 115
10. ^ 2013: Gnomes and Haflings, page 120
11. ISBN 0-312-19869-8
    .
12. ISBN 9784864728799
    .
13. ^ Tweet, Jonathan (July 2003). Player's Handbook Core Rulebook I v.3.5. Renton WA: Wizards of the Coast. ^{[verification needed]}
14. ^ Rossi, Matthew (23 April 2014). "Know Your Lore: Gnomes, the inheritors of the future". Engadget. Archived from the original on 31 July 2016. Retrieved 4 July 2016.
15. ^ "Sherlock Gnomes". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
16. ^ Paul, Péralte (16 April 2012). "Creating A World Record, One Gnome At A Time". East Atlanta Patch. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
17. ^ "Best Dressed Gnome Parade & Contest (adults & kids), Savannah". Southern Mamas. 2012. Archived from the original on 16 March 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
18. ^ Neff, Martha Mueller (18 May 2011). "5 ways for families to get close to birds". Cleveland.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
19. ^ Schiff, Stacy (31 July 2006). "Know It All, Can Wikipedia conquer expertise?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 30 September 2014. Retrieved 9 October 2016.