Bergmännlein
nature_spirit earth mining single tradition · 2
Beings that lurked in the mines, known as Bergmännlein (var. Bergmännlin, Bergmänngen), equatable to what Paracelsus called "gnomes". Agricola is the earliest and probably most reliable source on Berggeist, then known as Bergmännlein, etc.
↻ synthesized from 2 sources
When
- First attested
- 1500 CE
- Attested period
- 1500 – 1562
- Historical notes
- Documented in early modern Germany.
Relationships
- equivalent to
- daemon subterraneus
- syncretized with
- gnomes, Berggeist, Kobold, dæmon metallicus, daemon metallicus
- manifested by
- Rübezahl
- cognate of
- Gnome
Mentioned by
Sources
Source passages
“Agricola distinguished the "mountain devil", exemplified by Rübezahl with the small-statured Bergmännlein”
#7566 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“The etymology of kobold that Grimm supported derived the word from Latin cobalus (Greek κόβαλος, kobalos), but this was also Georg Agricola's Latin/Greek cypher for kobel syn. Bergmännlein denoting mine spirits, i.e. gnome.”
#23561 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001