Editing Gnome (section)

=Mythology=
The gnome as a mythical race dates back only as far as the Renaissance, when the writer Paracelsus created them for ''Liber de Nymphis, Sylvanis, Pygmaeis, Salamandris, et Gigantibus etc.'', describing them as small [[elemental]] spirits of the earth. It's believed that he used the term "gnomus" as a result of botching the spelling of gēnomos - "earth-dweller" in <s>Latin</s> Greek (that's why he would have botched the spelling; Western scholars of that era weren't very good at Greek. ''Graecum est, non legitur'' is the origin of our modern colloquialism "it's all Greek to me.")

Gnomes then took off as a result of Romanticism, when the English word "gnome" was co-opted as a general blanket term for the "little people" - the vast assortment of small [[fairy]]-people from folklore across the many differing regions of Europe, essentially rolling together creatures like the [[dwarf]], [[goblin]] and [[kobold]] into a single generic term. Drawing upon Paracelsus' original creation, the gnome became a sort of cthonic fey; small, down-to-earth and often quite ugly and masculine in contrast to the masculine-yet-pretty [[elf]] and the very feminine [[fairy]].

Perhaps the closest thing to a defining image of gnomes has emerged from the various dwarf-like fae races of Germany; very small creatures of the forests and hills who live in harmony with nature, especially the animals, and who are shy but friendly towards humans. This was the school of thought that ultimately birthed the common garden gnome you see all over the place today, and the character David the Gnome, who has his own section elsewhere on this page.

With roots this tangled and confusing, it's no wonder that gnomes continue to struggle to define themselves to this day.