Gnomes: A Lesson in Chthonics

Its been a while since i have posted here. I kind of ran out of material. So, I figure, its about time to go back to the basics. Myth.


Apparently, the idea of the gnome has its origins in ancient mythos, most notably Greek, Gael, and Germanic folklore. I learned a new word today too, from the Greek chthonios, chthonic means under the earth. So... in a sentence, you would use it like this: "My dad just died and now he is chthonic". 

The British used the term Chthonic Gnome to differentiate between other gnome-like creatures such as brownies, elves, leprechauns, kobolds, goblins, gremlins, sprites, klabautermen, and garden gnomes. Basically, the original gnome was much more like the dwarves from Lord of the Rings.

Some other uses of the term gnome in literature are as follows:

Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1873 wrote about gnomes in Twice Told Tales where he differentiates the ugly, strong, earthy, manly gnomes from the pretty and fragile limpwristed fairies.

William Cullen Bryant wrote about gnomes in his book Little People of the Snow in 1877, and made it clear that gnomes are not elves (no kidding, Orlando Bloom would make an awful gnome). However, JRR Tolkien wrote of gnomes as the first people, the Noldor, a second clan of elves, who were clever craftsmen and shared their knowledge with man. So, maybe Bloom would make a good gnome.

In 1895, gnomes turned up as main characters in Franz Hartmann's Unter den Gnomen im Untersberg. They are portrayed exactly as one would describe a dwarf today. And by dwarf, I dont mean Little People, Big World on TLC. 

In the 19th century, gnomes pop up in fantasy books, most notably in L. Baum's Wizard of OZ, Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, and lastly Rowling's Harry Potter. 
I believe I had a rant about Rowling's portrayal previously

Also to be noted... the rise of the fantasy gaming culture has led to the use of gnomes in games such as Dungeons and Dragons, and Magic: The Gathering. Funny enough, there is a blog for that: Gnome Stew.