Re: Gnomes (Was: what is an aorist?)

On Monday, July 11, 2005, at 01:43 , caeruleancentaur wrote:

> --- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Ray Brown <ray.brown@F...> wrote:
>
>> Before the humorists weigh in - no, a gnomic statements are not
> those
>> made by strange dwarf-like creatures (tho I shall probably be too
>> late   ;)
>
> No, you are not too late but, darn, I wanted to be the first!  :-)
Sorry.

> In looking up the origin of "gnomic," I did discover, however, the
> etymology of "gnome."  Paracelsus coined it!  I wonder why he had a
> need for the word.
He wanted names for the spirits of each of the 'four elements':
salamanders - spirits of fire
sylphs - spirits of air
undines - spirits of water
gnomes - spirits of earth

The name 'salamander' is ultimately from Greek _salamandra_, a kind of
newt (Salamandra vulgaris). It was supposed by both the ancient Greeks and
the Romams to be able to withstand fire, being able to quench the fire by
the chill of its body. Reference to this belief may be found in Aristotle
and Pliny and several other authors. Many of the medievals seem to have
believed the creature actually lived in fire & Paracelsus simply adopted
the word for his elemental spirits of fire.

The word 'sylph' is found in medieval Cabbalists and was used among the
the Rosicruceans. It is possibly derived from Greek _silphē_ 'cockroach'
(Blatta germanica). Paracelsus adopted the term for his elemental spirits
of air.

The word 'undina' (undine) seems to have been coined by Paracelsus for
elemental spirits of water; but the name is certainly derived from Latin
_unda_ "wave, billow, water".

As for 'gnomes', it was apparently the Rosicruceans who are responsible
for depicting them as misshapen elemental spirits, dwelling deep within
the earth and guarding mines and quarries. But it does seem that it was
indeed Paracelsus who first coined the term 'gnomus' (gnome) to denote an
elemental spirit of the earth.

FWIW the word 'gnome' meaning "a pithy saying" is derived from ancient
Greek _gnōmē_ and almost certainly has nothing whatever to do with
Paracelsus' _gnomus_ - there is for a start no obvious connexion in
meaning! It has been suggested that he derived it from a Greek *_gē-nomos_
"earth-dwelling". But no such compound is attested in Greek (it would not
have been 'well-formed' in any case), tho the compound _geōnomos_ is; the
latter means "one who receives a portion of land, colonist."

We''ll probably never know why Paracelsus hit on 'gnomi' for his elemental
spirits. But it seems we have to thank him for coining the word and the
Rosicruceans for making them misshapen guardians of mines and quarries.
However, we Brits have rescued the poor creatures and allowed them to
colonize the gardens of suburbia, where they certainly seem to be a whole
lot happier - quite cheery little creatures, in fact   ;)

Ray
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