A Chymical Dictionary

Gnomi

Spirits celestial influences and signs · A Chymical Dictionary

At a Glance

The word. Subterranean beings described through several related formulations.

In the book. Terrelati are corporeal spirits living in the earth.

A place to read. The historical definition below, 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352.

Historical Definition

Gnomi are called homunciones, or rather corporeal spirits living under the earth, or Pygmies a cubit long.

Meaning

The definition gives more than one formulation and even marks a preference: homunciones, “or rather” corporeal spirits under the earth, or Pygmies a cubit long. The words should not be flattened into a single unqualified description. Habitat, bodily character and size each enter the account in a different way.

The cubit is the historical measure supplied. No modern conversion is necessary to understand that the passage describes small beings, and the dictionary gives no independent calibration here.

Use in the Book

Terrelati are corporeal spirits living in the earth. Inanimati is directly glossed as Pygmies, while Homunculus has artificial-human and image senses. These comparisons clarify a connected vocabulary without proving that the compiler treats all the named beings as identical or gives them one origin.

Places to Read

Homunculus. An artificial human being, with an additional image sense.

Inanimati. A term directly identified with Pygmies.

Terrelati. Bodily spirits associated with residence in earth.

In This Edition

The edition preserves the qualifying “or rather,” since it records the compiler’s own effort to distinguish descriptions within this brief entry.

Historical source: 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352 — Facsimile

Sources. A Chymicall Dictionary 1650, s.v. Gnomi

See also. Homunculus; Inanimati; Terrelati