gnomes
Gnomes are one of the four categories of elementals, according to Paracelsus and his followers. They correspond to the element of earth.
↻ synthesized from 5 sources
When
- First attested
- 1500 CE
- Attested period
- 1500 – 1714
- Historical notes
- Categorized as elementals by Paracelsus in the 16th century.
Relationships
- co occurs with
- kobel, Berggeist, sea monks, undines, light militia of the lower sky, will-o'-the-wisp, giant, Sirens
- aspect of
- Elemental
- sibling of
- Sylph, undines, nymphs, sylvestres, salamanders, salamanders
- parent of
- dwarfs
- syncretized with
- Bergmännlein
Mentioned by
Sources
- peer reviewed
Source passages
“According to Paracelsus and his subsequent followers, there are four categories of elementals, which are gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders. These correspond to the four Empedoclean elements of antiquity: earth, water, air, and fire, respectively.”
#7461 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Those who live in earth, he calls mountain people, earth men, gnomes, or pygmies... dwarfs are from the mountain people.”
#7504 · extracted by anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5
“equatable to what Paracelsus called "gnomes".”
#7550 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“Paracelsus believed that each of the four classical elements—earth, water, air and fire—is inhabited by different categories of elemental spirits, liminal creatures that share our world: gnomes, undines, sylphs and salamanders respectively.”
#7642 · extracted by google/gemini-2.0-flash-001
“by introducing the supernatural machinery of sylphs and gnomes and all the light militia of the lower sky”
#44675 · extracted by nvidia/nemotron-3-super-120b-a12b:free