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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8683358" data-attributes="member: 6790260">I don't see how this is really any different from what I said. Would it have been better if I said &quot;D&amp;D-like gnomes&quot;? &quot;Elves&quot; of some form exist all over the place in myth, but &quot;elves&quot; as they appear in D&amp;D were basically invented by Tolkien, so...I figured that was sort of a given.Even apart from that though, gnomes really aren't THAT common in mythology. In fact, &quot;gnome&quot; proper doesn't even appear in mythology at all; the term was invented by Paracelsus in the late 16th century, from the Latin gnomus, thought to be an accidental corruption of genomos, &quot;living in the earth&quot; or &quot;earth-dweller.&quot; As a result, gnomes were essentially unknown to even folklore until the 19th century, at which point they were pretty much already the &quot;garden gnome&quot; shape and presentation we're familiar with today (often including the red, peaked hats.) Even where they appeared, they were essentially just a synonym for all the other words for &quot;little people,&quot; e.g. leprechaun, fairy, goblin, brownie, sprite, and elves, since that term meant little beings like Thumbelina or Tom Thumb before Tolkien completely reinvented it.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8683358, member: 6790260"] I don't see how this is really any different from what I said. Would it have been better if I said "D&D-like gnomes"? "Elves" [I]of some form[/I] exist all over the place in myth, but "elves" [I]as they appear in D&D[/I] were basically invented by Tolkien, so...I figured that was sort of a given. Even apart from that though, gnomes really aren't THAT common in mythology. In fact, "gnome" proper doesn't even appear in [I]mythology[/I] at all; the term was invented by Paracelsus in the late 16th century, from the Latin [I]gnomus, [/I]thought to be an accidental corruption of [I]genomos[/I], "living in the earth" or "earth-dweller." As a result, gnomes were essentially unknown to even folklore until the 19th century, at which point they were pretty much already the "garden gnome" shape and presentation we're familiar with today (often including the red, peaked hats.) Even where they appeared, they were essentially just a synonym for all the other words for "little people," e.g. leprechaun, fairy, goblin, brownie, sprite, and [I]elves[/I], since that term meant little beings like Thumbelina or Tom Thumb before Tolkien completely reinvented it. [/QUOTE]

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