Diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the fictional humanoid type of creature. For the desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems, see GNOME. For the garden ornament, see Garden gnome. For other uses, see Gnome (disambiguation).
A gnome (/noʊm/[1]) is a mythological creature and diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, introduced by Paracelsus in the 16th century and widely adopted by authors including those of modern fantasy literature. Typically small humanoids who live underground, gnome characteristics are reinterpreted to suit various storytellers and artists.[2]
Quick Facts Grouping, Folklore ...
Gnome
Gnom mit Zeitung und Tabakspfeife (English: Gnome with newspaper and tobacco pipe) by Heinrich Schlitt (1923)
Grouping
Diminutive spirit
Folklore
Renaissance
First attested
16th century
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Paracelsus's gnome is recognized to have derived from the German miner's legend about Bergmännlein or dæmon metallicus "metallurgical or mineralogical demons" according to Georg Agricola (1530), also called virunculus montanos (literal Latinization of Bergmännlein, = "mountain manikin") by Agriocola in a later work (1549), and described by other names such as cobeli (sing. cobelus; Latinization of German Kobel). Agricola recorded that according to the legends of this profession, these mining spirits as miming and laughing pranksters that sometimes threw pebbles at miners, but could also reward them by depositing a rich vein of silver ore.
Paracelsus also called his gnomes occasionally by these names (Bergmännlein, etc.) in the German publications of his work (1567). Paracelsus claimed they measured 2 spans (18 inches) in height, whereas Agricola stated them to be 3 dodrans (3 spans, 27 inches) tall.
Lawn ornaments crafted as gnomes were introduced during the 19th century, growing in popularity during the 20th century as garden gnomes.
The name of the element cobalt descends from kobelt, 16th century German miners' name for an unwanted ore (cobalt-zinc ore, or possibly the noxious cobaltite and smaltite), thought to be the result of mischief perpetrated by the gnome kobel[lower-alpha 1](cf. §cobalt ore). This kobel is technically not the same as kobold, but there is confusion or conflation between them.
The term may be an original invention of Paracelsus, possibly deriving the term from Latin *gēnomos, itself representing a Greek *γηνόμος, approximated by "*gē-nomos", literally "earth-dweller". This is characterized as a case of "blunder" by the Oxford English Dictionary (OED),[1] presumably referring to the omission of the ē to arrive at gnomus. However, this conjectural derivation is not substantiated by any known prior attestation in literature,[lower-alpha 3] and one commentator suggests the truth will never be known, short of a discovery of correspondence from the author.[lower-alpha 4][8]
Paracelsus uses Gnomi as a synonym of Pygmæi[1] and classifies them as earth elementals.[9][10] He describes them as two spans tall.[lower-alpha 5][11][12] They are able to move through solid earth, as easily as humans move through air, and hence described as being like a "spirit".[13] However the elementals eat, drink and talk (like humans), distinguishing them from spirits.[14][lower-alpha 6]
And according to Paracelsus's views, the so-called dwarf (German: Zwerg, Zwerglein) is merely monstra (deformities) of the earth spirit gnome.[22]
Note that Paracelsus also frequently resorts to circumlocutions like "mountain people" (Bergleute) or "mountain manikins" ("Bergmänlein" [sic][23]) to denote the gnomi in the German edition (1567).[24]
There was a belief in early modern Germany about beings that lurked in the mines, probably known as Bergmännlein (var. Bergmännlin,[25]Bergmänngen[26]), equatable to what Paracelsus called "gnomes".[27]Georgius Agricola, being a supervisor of mines, collected his well-versed knowledge of this mythical being in his monograph, De amantibus subterraneis (recté De animatibus subterraneis, 1549).[27] The (corrected) title suggests the subject to be "subterranean animate beings". It was regarded as a treatise on the "Mountain spirit" (Berggeist by the Brothers Grimm, in Deutsche Sagen.[30][31]
Although Agricola adhered to using Latin, some early anthologies (1546) containing his Bermanus, sive, de re metallica (first printed 1530) was appended with a Latin-German vocabulary section, with an entry that described the boons of the Bergmännlein.[lower-alpha 7][32] And later editions of his De re Metallica Libri XII (e.g. 1657) also contains glosses of mine demon synonyms in German.[lower-alpha 8][33] Grimm quoted from some edition of De re Metallica Libri XII a combination of entries from these two glosses pertaining to the mine demon (cf. §Agricola for what the text contains).[36]
Agricola's contemporary Johannes Mathesius, a Lutheran reformist theologian, in Sarepta Oder Bergpostill (1562) uses these various mine-lore terminology in his German sermon, so that the noxious ore which Agricola called cadmia is clarified as that which German miners called cobelt (also kobelt, cobalt), and a demon the Germans called kobel was held responsible for the mischief of its existence, according to the preacher. The kobel demon was also blamed for the "hipomane"[sic] or horse's poison (cf. hippomanes, §Rosenkrantz mine, Annaberg).[39][lower-alpha 9][lower-alpha 10]
Agricola
Agricola is the earliest and probably most reliable source on these Bergmännlein. [41]
As already described above, Agricola's published works were appended with glosses of demon names in German,[33] and the gloss of a Latin phrase describing the bounties of the mine-demon translated into German.[42]
Thus from an edition of Bermanus (Bermanus, sive, de re metallica, first printed 1530) in twelve books, Grimm is able to quote a concatenation of the two gloss entries just mentioned. The passage states that the more ferocious of the daemon subterraneus "underground demons" are called in German berg-teufel or "mountain-devil", while the milder ones are called bergmenlein, kobel, guttel. And the daemon metallicus "mine demon" aka bergmenlein is somehow responsible for depositing a rich vein of ore ("fundigezech)" (specifically rich silver[43] ore).[36]
According to Agricola in De animatibus subterraneis (1549), the Cobali (singular: Cobalos; German: Kobel,[31]Kobal[45] is the name given to these strange beings by Germans and some Greeks on account of them aping or mimicking humans. They have the penchant to laugh, while seeming to do things, without accomplishing anything.[46][47]
In classical Greek literature, kobalos (κόβαλος) refers to an "impudent rogue",[48][49] or in more modern parlance, "joker"[50] or "trickster".[51] The chemist J. W. Mellor (1935) had suggested "mime".[54]
These which some call kobel are otherwise called the "mountain dwarf"[55] (virunculos montanos, lit. in German: Bergmännlein, or English: "mountain manikin"[56][57]) due to their small stature.[lower-alpha 11] They have the appearance of old age, and dress like miners,[lower-alpha 12] in laced/filleted shirt[lower-alpha 13][lower-alpha 14] and leather apron around the loins.[46][59][47] And although they may pelt miners with gravel/pebbles[lower-alpha 15] they do no real harm, unless they were first provoked.[46][47]
Though Agricola's cobalos (Germ. kobel/kobal) might be considered a precise synonym for Bergmännchen[lower-alpha 16] by some,[31]kobel is said to have a more general sense of "evil spirit, according to Grimm's dictionary, though it also acknowledges a secondary meaning as a sort of kobold in the miner's community.[29][lower-alpha 17]
And the term kobold, also, though it was originally a house spirit,[63] got conflated and became regarded as being associated with mines.[64]
Agricola goes on to add there are similar to the beings which the Germans called Guteli (singular: Gutelos; German: Gütel,[31][65] var. Güttgen), which are amicable demons that are rarely seen, since they have business at their home taking care of livestock.[lower-alpha 18][46][59] Again, a Gütel or Güttel is elsewhere explained as not necessarily a mountain spirit, but more generic, and may haunt forests and fields.[62][lower-alpha 19][lower-alpha 20] The Hoovers render these as "goblins".[47]
Agricola finally adds these resemble the Trullis (trolls?) as they are called especially by the Swedes,[lower-alpha 21] said to shapeshift into the guise of human males and females, and sometimes made to serve men.[46][59]
Rosenkrantz mine, Annaberg
Purportedly a mountain demon incident caused 12 fatalities at a mine named Rosenkrans at Anneberg[70] or rather Rosenkrantz[41] (Corona Rosacea[38]) at Annaberg-Buchholz, in the Erzgebirge (Ore Mountains) in Saxony.[41] The demon took on the guise of the horse, and killed the twelve men with its breath, according to Agricola.[71][73]
Demonology
Agricola has a passage in Bermanus which is quoted by a modern scholar as relevant to the study of his contemporary Paracelsus, in modern scholarship,[74] The passage contains the line[76] basically repeated by Olaus, as "there exist in ore-bearing regions six kinds of demon more malicious than the rest".[77][69]
This is probably misstated or misleading, since Bermanus cites Psellus,[75] who devised a classification of six demon classes, where clearly it is not all six, but just the fifth class of subterranean demons which are relevant to mining.[78]
This demon class is also equatable to the Agricola's Cobali and "Getuli" (recté "Guteli")[79][lower-alpha 20] according to commentators.[78][80]
It has also been noted that Agricola distinguished the "mountain devil", exemplified by Rübezahl with the small-statured Bergmännlein.[81] Although the popular notion was that Rübezahl was indeed lord of the gnomes, as told in folktales around the Risengibirge (Giant Mountains) region in Silesia, published by 18th century folktale collector Musäus.[82]
Bermanus explaining that the "mine demon" dæmon metallicus or "Bergmenlin" somehow depositing "rich mines" was metioned above.[36]
Cobalt ore
Agricola knew of certain noxious unwanted ores the Germans miners called kobelt, though he generally referred to it by the Greek term, cadmia.[83][84] This cadmia/kobelt appears to have denoted a cobal-zinc ore, but Agricola ascribes to it corrosive dangers to the miners' feet, and it is noted that smaltite, a cobalt and nickel arsenide mixture presents corrosive properties.[84] This ore, which defied being smelted by the metallurgy of that time, may also have been cobaltite, composed of cobalt, arsenic, and sulfur.[85]
The presence of this nuisance ore kobelt was blamed on the similar-sounding kobel mine spirits, as Mathesius noted in his preaching.[39] The inferred etymology of kobelt deriving from kobel, which Mathesius does not quite elocute, was explicitly articulated by Johannes Beckmann in Beiträge zur Geschichte der Erfindungen (tr. English as The History of Inventions, discoveries and origins, 1797).[38]
The kobel spirit possibly the namesake of the ore is characterized as a "gnome or a goblin" by science writer Philip Ball.[84][87] However, 20th century dictionaries had suggested derivation from kobold, for example, Webster's in 1911 which didn't distinguish kobel from kobold and lumped them together,[88] and the OED which conjectured that the ore kobolt and the spirit kobolt/kobold was the same word.[89] An alternative etymology deriving kobolt ore from Kübel, a type of bucket mentioned by Agricola, has been suggested by Karl Müller-Fraureuth[62][91]Peter Wothers suggests that cobalt could derive (without connection to Agricola) from cobathia for noxious smoke.[86]
Olaus Magnus
The erudite Swedish Olaus Magnus in his Historia de Gentibus Septentrionalibus (1555) also provides a chapter on "demons in the mines".[77][69] Although Olaus uses the term "demon" (daemon) and not the uninvented coinage "gnome", the accompanying woodcut he provided (cf. Fig. right) has been represented as "gnome" in modern reference sources.[2][92][93]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2024)
Grimm discusses the Bergmänlein somewhat under the subsection of Dwarfs (Zwerge), arguing that the dwarf's Nebelkappe (known as Tarnkappe in the Nibelungenlied) slipped from being known as a cape or cloak covering the body in earlier times, into being thought of as caps or head coverings in the post-medieval era. As an example, he cites the Bergmännlein wearing a pointed hat, according to Rollenhagen's poem Froschmeuseler.[58][95]
As can be glimpsed by this example, the approach of Grimm's "Mythologische Schule" is to regard the lore of the various männlein or specifically Bergmännlein as essentially derivatives of the Zwerge/dvergr of pagan Germanic mythologies.[96][lower-alpha 22]
In the 1960s there developed a general controversy between this "mythological school" and its opponents over how to interpret so-called "miner's legends". What sparked the controversy was not over the Bergmännlein type tale per se, but over Grimms' "Three Miners of Kuttenberg",[lower-alpha 23] who are trapped underground but supernaturally maintain longevity through prayer.[97] Siegfried Kube (1960) argued the tale was based on ancient mythology, i.e., pagan alpine worship.[100] This was countered by Wolfgang Brückner[de] (1961) who regarded the tale as inspired by medieval Catholic notion of the purgatory.[101] Whereas Ina-Maria Greverus (1962), presented yet a different view, that it was not based on organized church doctrine, but a world-view and faith in the miner's unique microcosm.[102][101]
Greverus at least in her 1962 piece, centered her argument on the Berggeist (instead of Bergmännlein).[102][103] Grimm also uses the Berggeist apparently as a type of Zwerg,[106] but there has been issued a caveat that the meaning of the term Berggeist according to Grimm may not necessarily coincide with the meaning used by the proletarian Greverus.[103]Gerhard Heilfurth[de] and Greverus's Bergbau und Bergmann (1967) amply discuss the Bergmännlein.[107]
The collection of tales under the classification of "Berggeist" was already anticipated as far back as Friedrich Wrubel (1883).[108][109][111] Later Franz Kirnbauer[de] published Bergmanns-Sagen (1954), a collection of miner's legends which basically adopted Wrubel's four-part classification, except Wrubel's Part 2 was retitled as one about "Bergmännlein".[108][110]
In Karl Müllenhoff's anthology (1845), legends No. 443 Das Glück der Grafen Ranzau and No. 444 Josias Ranzaus gefeites Schwert feature the Bergmännlein-männchen or its female form Bergfräuchen.[112][113]
Other collected works also bear "Berggeist-sagen" in the title, such as the collection of legends in Lower Saxony by Wolfersdorf (1968).[114]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (August 2024)
The anecdote of the "Rosenkrantz" mine localized in Saxony was already given above in §Rosenkrantz mine, Annaberg. This and other near modern attestations are given in Wolfersdorf's anthology (1968) above.[114]
Switzerland
The gnomes of Swiss folklore are also associated with riches of the mines. They are said to have caused the landslide that destroyed the Swiss village of Plurs in 1618 - the villagers had become wealthy from a local gold mine created by the gnomes, who poured liquid gold down into a vein for the benefit of humans, and were corrupted by this newfound prosperity, which greatly offended the gnomes.[115]
In Romanticism and modern fairy tales
The English word is attested from the early 18th century. Gnomes are used in Alexander Pope's "The Rape of the Lock".[10] The creatures from this mock-epic are small, celestial creatures that were prudish women in their past lives, and now spend all of eternity looking out for prudish women (in parallel to the guardian angels in Catholic belief). Other uses of the term gnome remain obscure until the early 19th century, when it is taken up by authors of Romanticist collections of fairy tales and becomes mostly synonymous with the older word goblin.
The Earth is filled almost to the center with Gnomes or Pharyes, a people of small stature, the guardians of treasures, of mines, and of precious stones. They are ingenious, friends of men, and easie to be commandded. They furnish the children of the Sages with as much money, as they have need of; and never ask any other reward of their services, than the glory of being commanded. The Gnomides or wives of these Gnomes or Pharyes, are little, but very handsom; and their habit marvellously curious.[116]
De Villars used the term gnomide to refer to female gnomes (often "gnomid" in English translations).[117] Modern fiction instead uses the word "gnomess" to refer to female gnomes.[118][119]
In 19th-century fiction, the chthonic gnome became a sort of antithesis to the more airy or luminous fairy. Nathaniel Hawthorne in Twice-Told Tales (1837) contrasts the two in "Small enough to be king of the fairies, and ugly enough to be king of the gnomes" (cited after OED). Similarly, gnomes are contrasted to elves, as in William Cullen Bryant's Little People of the Snow (1877), which has "let us have a tale of elves that ride by night, with jingling reins, or gnomes of the mine" (cited after OED).
The Russian composer Mussorgsky produced a movement in his work Pictures at an Exhibition, (1874) named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"). It is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about.
Franz Hartmann in 1895 satirized materialism in an allegorical tale entitled Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg. The English translation appeared in 1896 as Among the Gnomes: An Occult Tale of Adventure in the Untersberg. In this story, the Gnomes are still clearly subterranean creatures, guarding treasures of gold within the Untersberg mountain.
As a figure of 19th-century fairy tales, the term gnome became largely synonymous with other terms for "little people" by the 20th century, such as goblin, brownie, leprechaun and other instances of the household spirit type, losing its strict association with earth or the underground world.
Modern fantasy literature
Creatures called gnomes have been used in the fantasy genre of fiction and later gaming since the mid-nineteenth century, typically in a cunning role, e.g. as an inventor.[120]
In L. Frank Baum's Oz books (published 1900 to 1920), the Nomes (so spelled), especially their king, are the chief adversaries of the Oz people. They are ugly, hot-tempered, immortal, round-bodied creatures with spindly limbs, long beards and wild hair, militantly collecting and protecting jewels and precious metals underground. Ruth Plumly Thompson, who continued the series (1921 to 1976) after Baum's death, reverted to the traditional spelling. He also featured gnomes in his book The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. They watch over the rocks, their king is part of the Council of Immortals, and they created the sleigh bells for Santa Claus's reindeer.
J. R. R. Tolkien, in the legendarium (created 1914 to 1973) surrounding his Elves, uses "Gnomes" as the initial- but later dropped- name of the Noldor, the most gifted and technologically minded of his elvish races, in conscious exploitation of the similarity with the word gnomic. Gnome is thus Tolkien's English loan-translation of the Quenya word Noldo (plural Noldor), "those with knowledge". Tolkien's "Gnomes" are generally tall, beautiful, dark-haired, light-skinned, immortal, and wise. They are also proud, violent, and unduly admire their own creations, particularly their gemstones. Many live in cities below ground (Nargothrond) or in secluded mountain fortresses (Gondolin). He uses "Gnomes" to refer to both males and females. In The Father Christmas Letters (between 1920 and 1942), which Tolkien wrote for his children, Red Gnomes are presented as helpful creatures who come from Norway to the North Pole to assist Father Christmas and his Elves in fighting the wicked Goblins.
BB'sThe Little Grey Men (1942) is a story of the last gnomes in England, little wild men who live by hunting and fishing.
In C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia (created 1950 to 1956), the gnomes are sometimes called "Earthmen". They live in the Underland, a series of caverns. Unlike the traditional, more human-like gnomes, they can have a wide variety of physical features and skin colours where some of them are either standing at 1ft or being taller than humans. They are used as slaves by the Lady of the Green Kirtle until her defeat, at which point they return to their true home, the much deeper (and hotter) underground realm of Bism.
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (created 1997 to 2007), gnomes are pests that inhabit the gardens of witches and wizards. They are small creatures with heads that look like potatoes on small stubby bodies. Gnomes are generally considered harmless but mischievous and may bite with sharp teeth. In the books, it is stated that the Weasleys are lenient to gnomes, and tolerate their presence, preferring to throw them out of the garden rather than more extreme measures.
In A. Yoshinobu's Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, the European concept of a gnome is used in order to introduce the Far Eastern notion of the Koropokkuru, a mythical indigenous race of small people: gnomes are a persecuted minority banned from learning wizardry and attending magical schools.[121]
In Terry Brooks' Shannara series (created 1977 to 2017), gnomes are an offshoot race created after the Great Wars. There are several distinctive classes of gnomes. Gnomes are the smallest race. In The Sword of Shannara they are considered to be tribal and warlike, the one race that can be the most easily subverted to an evil cause. This is evidenced by their allegiance to the Warlock Lord in The Sword of Shannara and to the Mord Wraiths in The Wishsong of Shannara.
Terry Pratchett included gnomes in his Discworld series. Gnomes were six inches in height but quite strong, often inflicting pain upon anyone underestimating them. One prominent gnome became a Watchman in Ankh-Morpork as the force became more diversified under the command of Sam Vimes, with Buggy Swires appearing in Jingo. Another gnome in the series was Wee Mad Arthur a pest terminator in Feet of Clay.
Music
One of the first movements in Mussorgsky's 1874 work Pictures at an Exhibition is named "Gnomus" (Latin for "The Gnome"). It is written to sound as if a gnome is moving about, his movements constantly changing in speed.
A classical piece of music written to sound as if a gnome is moving about.
"The Laughing Gnome" is a song by English musician David Bowie, released as a single in 1967. It became a hit when reissued in 1973, in the wake of Bowie's commercial success.
The 1970 album All Things Must Pass by English musician George Harrison has a cover image of the musician sitting among a group of garden gnomes.
In the Dungeons & Dragonsfantasyrole-playing game, gnomes are one of the core races available for play as player characters.[122] They are described as being smaller than dwarves and large-nosed. They have an affinity with small animals and a particular interest in gemstones. Depending on setting and subrace, they may also have a natural skill with illusion magic or engineering.
In the Warcraft franchise (1994 to present), particularly as featured in the massively multiplayer online role-playing gameWorld of Warcraft, gnomes are a race of beings separate from but allied to dwarves and humans, with whom they share the lands of the Eastern Kingdoms. Crafty, intelligent, and smaller than their dwarven brethren, gnomes are one of two races in Azeroth regarded as technologically savvy. It is suggested in lore that the gnomes originally were mechanical creations that at some point became organic lifeforms. In World of Warcraft, gnomes are an exile race, having irradiated their home city of Gnomeregan in an unsuccessful last-ditch effort to drive out marauding foes.[123]
Historic garden gnomes on display at the Gnome Reserve in Devon, UK. The ornament on the left of the image was produced by Eckardt and Mentz in the late nineteenth-century,
By the late twentieth century the garden gnome had come to be stylised as an elderly man with a full white beard and a pointed hat.
After World War II (with early references, in ironic use, from the late 1930s) the diminutive figurines introduced as lawn ornaments during the 19th century came to be known as garden gnomes. The image of the gnome changed further during the 1960s to 1970s, when the first plastic garden gnomes were manufactured. These gnomes followed the style of the 1937 depiction of the seven dwarves in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Disney.
This "Disneyfied" image of the gnome was built upon [citation needed] by the illustrated children's book classic Gnomes (1976), in the original Dutch Leven en werken van de Kabouter, by author Wil Huygen and artist Rien Poortvliet, followed in 1981 by The Secret Book of Gnomes.
Garden gnomes share a resemblance to the Scandinavian tomte and nisse, and the Swedish term "tomte" can be translated as "gnome" in English.
Gnome-themed parks
Several gnome themed entertainment parks exist. Notable ones are:
The expression "Gnomes of Zurich", Swiss bankers pictured as diminutive creatures hoarding gold in subterranean vaults, was derived from a speech in 1956 by Harold Wilson, and gained currency in the 1960s (OED notes the New Statesman issue of 27 November 1964 as earliest attestation).
And again in the Johannes Huser edition of 1589–1591 from an autograph by Paracelsus.
The asterisk(*) at the beginnings of the presumed Latin or Greek words indicates linguistic reconstruction.
A rhetorical comparison is made to Murray Gell-Mann who did write to the Oxford English Dictionary regarding the word origin of "quark".
If 1 span is taken to be 9 inches, 2 spans equal 1.5 feet. Cf. below where Agricola gives 3 dodrans (equal to 3 spans, i.e., 2.25 feet).
Them being "taciturn" according to C. S. Lewis[12] appears to be a misattribution, for Paracelsus states: "The mountain manikins [gnomes] are endowed with speech like the nymphs [undines, water], and the vulcans [salamanders, fire] speak nothing, yet they can speak but roughly and rarely".[15] Hartmann also seems to misstate the "spirits of the woods" as saying nothing,[16] since this answers to "sylvestres" of the forests, given as an alternate name sylphs, or air spirits.[17][18]
Agricola anthology of 1546, p, 477 "Latin: daemon metallicus: "German: Das bergmenlin[sic]"; p. 478: "Latin: Fodinam, quantumuis argento fœcundam propter dæmonem me tallicum deserere: German: Ein fundige zech des bergmenleins halben liegen lassen".
That is to say, glosses of words from De amantibus subterraneis appended to an edition of De re Metallica.
The Hoovers in their translation of Agricola echo the opinion that kobalt has this name because the kobel demon was blamed for it. Cf. also Johann Beckmann (1752).[38] See §Cobalt ore for further details on the "cobalt" etymology.
Agricola specifies "nempe nani tres dodrantes longi" where dodrans glosses as "three-quarters of a foot", i.e., "dwarf 2.25 feet tall". The Hoovers' translation converts to "about 2 feet".
Here "metallicorum" is glossed as "miner", even though the old translation renders as "metal [re]finers".
The dated rendition gives "laced petticoat" while the Hoovers gave "filleted garment" for Latin vittatus (vitta "band, ribbon").
indusium or "laced petticoat" in the old translation could refers to either an upper or lower garment, thus the Hoover's give "garment", but here prob. in the sense of shirt, not skirt, cf. Bergmännlein wearing "white shirt" in Rollenhagen's Froschmäuseler poem, noted by Grimm.[58]
glareis Jacessant.
Alternate form of Bergmännlein.
Grimm Deutsche Mythologie gives the etymology of kobold as Greek cobalos,[61] making "kobel" and "kobold" cognates. But other linguists disagree, regarding kobold to have a koben- or kofe- stem meaning "chamber", possibly connected to English "cove".[44][62]
iumentum can mean cattle, etc., though Lavater tr. Harris gives "horses"
(East Central German) Gütel, Güttel purportedly diminutives of "God",[62] as it referred to fetish figurines, and as such ostensibly identifiable with kobold (as figurines).[66]
Grimm cites Václav Hanka's "Old" Bohemian glosses, 79b as giving "gitulius" for kobolt, followed by alpinus glossed as "tatrman". Grimm makes the point that all these have "doll" or "puppet" connotations, since alphinus was the term for a chess piece (the queen, apparently also called "the fool"), and tatrman is attested with the usage "guiding him with strings".[67][68]
A troll is obviously rather generic. Lecouteux gives Swedish: gruvrå.[31]
Baba (2019)'s specific mention of "Bergmännlein" is limited to saying they appear as characters in two tales from the collection of Karl Müllenhoff, at p. 26. She discusses near synonyms in Grimm's Deutsche Mytholgie, namely, männlein being used as \circumlocution for dwarf (Zwerg), p. 26, and Zwerg being a Berggeist pp. 101, 103; or equivalent to a mine spirit, p. 125, and deriving from the Germanic dvergr p. 134. As a reminder, Agricola's monograph on "mountain elves" was considered a book on Berggeist in the Grimms' DS.[31]
"Die drei Bergleute im Kuttenberg", Deutsche Sagen, No. 1
Paracelsus (1658), II: 392: "Gnomi humiles sunt, duas circiter spithamas æquantes"; Paracelsus (1567), p.181: "die Gnomi sein klein bis auff zwo spannen unnd dergleichen ungeferlich"; Paracelsus & Sigerist tr. (1941), p.235: "The mountain people are small, of about two spans".
Paracelsus (1658), II: 391: "Terra autem gnomis tantum chaos ist. Illi enim transeunt solidas parietes, saxa & scopulos, instar spiritus..."; Paracelsus (1567), p.179: "also den Gnomis die erde ihr Lufft, dann ein jedes ding wonet, geht und steht im Chaos. Die Gnomi gehn durch ganze felsen, mauren, unnd was innen ihr Chaos zu gros ist..."; Paracelsus & Sigerist tr. (1941), p.234–235: "the mountain manikins have the earth which is their chaos. To them it is only an air"; Paracelsus & Sigerist tr. (1941), p.232: "to the gnomi in the mountains: the earth is the air and is their chaos.. Now, the earth is not more than mere chaos to the mountain manikins. For they walk through solid walls, through rocks and stones, like a spirit;"
Paracelsus (1567), p.195: "Die Riesen kommen von den Waltleuten, die zwerglein von den Erdleuten, unnd sein monstra von ihnen wie die Syrenen von den Nymphen, von solche dingen werden wol selten geborn".
Sigerist's translation: "The giants come from the forest people and the dwarfs from the earth manikins. They are monstra like the sirens from the nymphs. Thus these beings are born".[19] The Latin term "monstra" is used as is in the 1567 German edition also.[20] However, this is not "monster" in the common modern sense, and explained as the "misbegotten" (Mißgeburten) in one reference handbook in its entry on "Paracelsus".[21]
Agricola (1546), p.78 The title page lists the works contained in the anthology, ending with the Latin-German gloss referred to as "Interpretatio Germanica uocum rei metallicæ..", but where the gloss begins, it is headed by the title: "Sequuntur rerum, de quibus scribimus, nomina, quae ipsis posuerunt Germani, nec tamen nomina prosuerunt omnibus rebus, quibus uel abundant, uel non carent".
Agricola, Georgius (1657) [1530]. "Animantium nomina latina, graega, q'ue germanice reddita, quorum author in Libro de subterraneis animantibus meminit". Georgii Agricolae Kempnicensis Medici Ac Philosophi Clariss. De Re Metallica Libri XII.: Quibus Officia, Instrumenta, Machinae, Ac Omnia Denique Ad Metallicam Spectantia, Non Modo Luculentissime describuntur; sed & per effigies, suis locis insertas ... ita ob oculos ponuntur, ut clarius tradi non possint. Basel: Sumptibus & Typis Emanuelis König. p. [762]. Dæmonum: Dæmon subterraneus trunculentus: bergterufel; mitis bergmenlein/kobel/guttel
There is the German form Kobalen, the -en presumably a definite article suffix. This term applies to a mountain-cave demon, answering to Latin Cobali, virunculi montani (used here by Agricola), Berggeister, Gnome, and Kobold, according to German linguist Paul Kretschmer.[44]
Agricola, Georgius (1614) [1549]. "37". In Johannes Sigfridus (ed.). Georgii Agricolae De Animantibus subterraneis. Witebergæ: Typis Meisnerianis. pp.78–79.
Liddell and Scott (1940). A Greek–English Lexicon. s.v. "koba_l-os, ho". Revised and augmented throughout by Sir Henry Stuart Jones with the assistance of Roderick McKenzie. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN0-19-864226-1. Online version retrieved 25 February 2008.
Kobold probably originally meant a house spirit, with the etymology Koben "chamber" + "walt "ruler, but its meaning was contaminated with the mountain-demons and gnomes.[44]
Latin: "Flatum vero emittebat ex rictu"[46] apparently omitted by the Hoovers, Wothers provides his own translation that it "only with his breath killed more than twelve labourers" and comments on the demon appearing in horse's guise, and issuing poison breath out of its mouth.[38] Cf. German: Anhauch.[41]
Agricola, Georgius (1546) [1530]. "Bermannus, sive de re metallica dialogus". Georgii Agricolae De ortu & causis subterraneorum lib. 5. De natura eorum quae effluunt ex terra lib. 4. De natura fossilium lib. 10. De ueteribus & nouis metallis lib. 2. Bermannus, siue De re metallica dialogus lib.1. Interpretatio Germanica uocum rei metallicæ, addito Indice fœcundissimo. Basel: Froben. pp.432–433.
Just below mention of the mine "Corona rosacea", writes: "Eius generis demonum, quod in metallis esse solet, inter reliqua, sex (6) enim numerat, Psellus mentionem fecit,.. cæteris peius" (worse than the rest).[75]
"Guteli" was Agricola's spelling, thus "Getuli" is not faithful to it. However, gitulius (var. getulius, gaetulius) as syn. kobolt is attested,[68] so the learned Englishmen were perhaps providing the correct standard Latin.
The trend of 21st century scholarship seems to be to categorize the kobel, etc. as "gnome". Peter Wothers titles his section on discussion on cobalt as §Gnomes and Goblins.[86] And while Wothers's Fig. 24 (= the fig. under §Olaus Magnus) labels the creature as "mining demon", Britannica Online labeled it as "gnome".
Agricola mentions the bucket repeatedly, in Latin as modulus, glossed as "kobel".[90] Cf. also Grimm, Deutsches Wörterbuch, Band 5, s.v. "Kobel", as well as "Köbel" and "Kübel".
Olaus appears to be quoting Munsterus (Münster), identified as author of Cosmographia,[80] i.e., Sebastian Münster the cartographer. He names Agricola apparently as an additional authority for confirmation. But much material found in Olaus are actually to be found in Agricola, as explained in several notes above.
In the published version of Rollenhagen's work, "Bergmännlein" is used in the index, but the verses themselves read: "Funden sich auf dem Berg beysammen Der kleiner Männlein ohne Nahmen,/ In weissen Hemdlein, spitzgen Kappen,/ Als man gewohnt an den Bergknappen".[94]
Cf. Baba (2019). Generally speaking, "the mythological school inherits their mentor Grimm's genre-classification theories", p. 71, and the mythological school, as the name implies is the approach of seeking "vestiges of mythology".
Yoshida, Takao (December 2008). "Sanrei to meikai: Gurimu 〈sannin no kōfu〉densetsu wo meguru mondaikei" 山霊と冥界――グリム〈三人の鉱夫〉伝説をめぐる問題系―― [The Berggeist and the Netherworld: the body of issues concerning Grimm's 〈Die drei Bergleute〉legend]. Gaikoku bungaku kenkyū 外国文学研究 (27). Nara Women's University: 149–194.
de Montfaucon de Villars, N.-P.-H. (1913) [1670]. Comte de Gabalis. London: The Brothers, Old Bourne Press. OCLC6624965. Archived from the original on 13 May 2015.
Paracelsus (1567). "De nymphis, syl. pyg.et salamandris". In Flöter, Balthasar (ed.). Philosophiæ magnæ, des Edlen ... Herrn D. Aureoli Theophrasti von Hohenhaim ... Tractatus aliquot, jetzt erst in Truck geben, etc. Köln: Truckts G. Vierendunck in verlegung A. Birckmans Erben. pp.170–.