gnome English · revision 2197

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈnəʊ̯m/ ''(UK)''; /ˈnoʊ̯m/, /ˈnɔʊ̯m/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|fr|gnome]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) [[der|la-new|gnomus]],^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU) a word used in the 16th century by Paracelsus for elemental earth beings.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) It is perhaps from a Greek ''*gēnómos'' “earth-dweller”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) or, less likely, from Greek ''gnṓmē'' “intelligence”.^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ One of a race of tiny spirits believed to live inside the earth and guard its treasures (1712–14).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1661.^(MW Collegiate)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the theory of Paracelsus, gnomes were the elemental beings of earth.^(MW Collegiate)^(Wiktionary) The word was popularized in English children's literature in the early 19th century for the red-capped dwarfs of German and Swiss folklore,^(Etymonline) and garden figures of them were imported from Germany in the late 1860s.^(Etymonline) The OED records the garden statue from 1938, and from 1964 the ''gnomes of Zurich'', Swiss bankers and financiers.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1712–14 – an earth-dwelling spirit guarding treasure.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)

+ * 1889 – ''(US)'' various hummingbirds.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1938 – a garden statue of a gnome.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1964 – an international banker, especially a Swiss one.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # In folklore, a dwarflike creature who lives underground and guards treasure.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A small statue of such a creature, placed in a garden.^(OED 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An international banker or financier, as in ''the gnomes of Zurich''.^(OED 1989)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A small person of strange or misshapen appearance.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[gnomish]]

+ * [[gnomelike]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[gnomic]]

+ * [[goblin]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate word ''gnome'' “a pithy saying, a maxim” (1577) is from Greek ''gnṓmē'' “judgment, opinion”, from ''gignṓskein'' “to know”;^(OED 1989)^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline) its derivative is ''gnomic''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}