gnome

English Online Dictionary. What means gnome‎? What does gnome mean?

English

Etymology 1

From French gnome (“gnome”), from New Latin gnomus, used by Paracelsus as a synonym for pygmaeus (“pygmy”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nōm, IPA^(key): /nəʊm/
• (General American) enPR: nōm, IPA^(key): /noʊm/
• Rhymes: -əʊm
• Homophones: Nome, nome

Noun

gnome (plural gnomes)

1. (magic, alchemy, Rosicrucianism) An elemental (spirit or corporeal creature associated with a classical element) associated with earth.
2. (mythology, fantasy) One of a race of imaginary human-like beings, usually depicted as short and typically bearded males, who inhabit the inner parts of the earth and act as guardians of mines, mineral treasure, etc.; in modern fantasy literature and games, when distinguished from dwarves, gnomes are usually smaller than dwarves and more focused on engineering than mining.

   Coordinate terms: (female) gnomess, gnomette, gnomide
3. A person of small stature or misshapen features, or of strange appearance.
4. The mountain pygmy owl, Glaucidium gnoma, a small owl of the western United States.
5. A small statue of a dwarf-like character, often bearded, placed in a garden.
6. (astronomy, meteorology) An upper atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with thunderstorms, a compact blue starter.
7. (often derogatory) A banker, especially a secretive international one.

   the gnomes of Zurich

   • 1985, Fodor's, Fodor's ... London, Fodor's

     For this is a creation of the City, of the country's financial heart, and of the gnomes of London who have financed it and supported it entirely on their own.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

See also

• kobold
• salamander (elemental of fire)
• sylph (elemental of air)
• undine (elemental of water)

Etymology 2

From Ancient Greek γνώμη (gnṓmē, “thought, opinion”), from the base of γιγνώσκω (gignṓskō, “to know”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nəʊm/, /nəʊmi/

Noun

gnome (plural gnomae or gnomai or gnomes)

2. A brief reflection or maxim; a pithy saying.

   Synonyms: adage, apothegm, maxim, paroemia, proverb, sententia

   • 1996, Giambattista Vico, Giorgio A. Pinton, Arthur W. Shippee (translators), The Art of Rhetoric, [1711-1741, Giambattista Vico, Institutiones Oratoriae], page 125,

     The Greeks in their tongue call this second type of maxim noema. The gnome is more appropriate to the philosophers, and the noema to the orators, to the poets, and to the historians. To speak by gnomes alone was referred to by the Greeks as "philosophizing" which we Italians would render as "to mouth maxims" (sputar sentenze).

Related terms

• gnomic
• gnomometry

References

• “gnome”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “gnome”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “gnome”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• Monge, emong

French

Etymology

From New Latin gnomus, not attested classically. (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡnom/

Noun

gnome m (plural gnomes, feminine gnomide or gnomesse or gnomette)

1. (mythology) gnome

Descendants

• → Danish: gnom
• → English: gnome
• → Norwegian Bokmål: gnom
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: gnom

Further reading

• “gnome”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Noun

gnome f

1. plural of gnoma

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈno.me/, [ˈnɔmɛ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈɲo.me/, [ˈɲɔːme]

Noun

gnome

1. vocative singular of gnomus