Gnome, << nohm >>, is a dwarflike creature in European folklore. Most gnomes are said to look like small, misshapen men with long beards. They live underground and are thought to guard fabulous treasures of precious metals and jewels. Gnomes are associated with mines and mining activities. Gnomes are sometimes said to have the magic ability to make people feel sad.
Paracelsus, a Swiss physician of the 1500’s, helped make the idea of gnomes well known. He wrote that gnomes could move through solid earth as easily as fish swim through water.
