Gnome
[image error] When you see a garden gnome in the corner of someone’s yard what do you think of? Do you think of words of wisdom or Renaissance medicine? I didn’t.
The word gnome has two completely different meanings and uses.
The word gnome, first seen in English in the 1570s, meant a short pithy statement of a general truth; i.e., an aphorism. Examples of such ‘gnomes’ include ‘Actions speak louder than words’, ‘He who hesitates is lost’, ‘The early bird gets the worm,’ ‘Less is more’, and so on.
This version of gnome came unchanged to English from Greek gnome (judgment, opinion; maxim, the opinion of wise men) and from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root gno (to know)—the source of many words related to knowing and knowledge.
The second meaning of the word gnome (a dwarf-like earth-dwelling spirit) was first seen in English in 1712 and came from 16th century French gnome, Latin gnomus, and possibly from Greek genomos (earth-dweller).
This Latin word gnomus or gnomi, referring to these earth-dwelling spirits, was used by Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493 – 1541) in his study and writings on medicine. Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, was a well-known and influential Swiss physician during the Renaissance.
In his work, Paracelsus identified four elemental beings, each associated with one of the four elements of the natural order: water, fire, air, and earth. Nymphs were the elemental beings associated with water, salamanders with fire, sylphs with air, and gnomes with earth. Hmmmm…. “Take two salamanders and call me in the morning.”
In spite of these rather esoteric views (common for his time), today Paracelsus is noted for bringing science, particularly chemistry, to the practice of medicine. He is known for emphasizing the value of observation in combination with the received wisdom of his time.
This second meaning of gnome, the earth-dwelling spirit, is the one which is now most well-known. Gnomes were popular and well-known in the children’s literature of early 19th century England. The red-capped German and Swiss folklore garden figurines were first imported to England in the late 1860s from Germany. The term ‘garden gnome’ is from 1933.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll look at garden gnomes a little differently from now on.
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
The word gnome has two completely different meanings and uses.
The word gnome, first seen in English in the 1570s, meant a short pithy statement of a general truth; i.e., an aphorism. Examples of such ‘gnomes’ include ‘Actions speak louder than words’, ‘He who hesitates is lost’, ‘The early bird gets the worm,’ ‘Less is more’, and so on.
This version of gnome came unchanged to English from Greek gnome (judgment, opinion; maxim, the opinion of wise men) and from the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root gno (to know)—the source of many words related to knowing and knowledge.
The second meaning of the word gnome (a dwarf-like earth-dwelling spirit) was first seen in English in 1712 and came from 16th century French gnome, Latin gnomus, and possibly from Greek genomos (earth-dweller).
This Latin word gnomus or gnomi, referring to these earth-dwelling spirits, was used by Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493 – 1541) in his study and writings on medicine. Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus, was a well-known and influential Swiss physician during the Renaissance.
In his work, Paracelsus identified four elemental beings, each associated with one of the four elements of the natural order: water, fire, air, and earth. Nymphs were the elemental beings associated with water, salamanders with fire, sylphs with air, and gnomes with earth. Hmmmm…. “Take two salamanders and call me in the morning.”
In spite of these rather esoteric views (common for his time), today Paracelsus is noted for bringing science, particularly chemistry, to the practice of medicine. He is known for emphasizing the value of observation in combination with the received wisdom of his time.
This second meaning of gnome, the earth-dwelling spirit, is the one which is now most well-known. Gnomes were popular and well-known in the children’s literature of early 19th century England. The red-capped German and Swiss folklore garden figurines were first imported to England in the late 1860s from Germany. The term ‘garden gnome’ is from 1933.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’ll look at garden gnomes a little differently from now on.
Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
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