From the book
A Chymical Dictionary
Gerhard Dorn and John French · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordSubterranean beings described through several related formulations.
- In the bookTerrelati are corporeal spirits living in the earth.
- A place to readThe 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
- GnomiRead the complete historical definition and its commentary.
- HomunculusAn artificial human being, with an additional image sense.
- InanimatiA term directly identified with Pygmies.
- TerrelatiBodily 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.
Source note
Historical source. 1650 dictionary, unnumbered definition page 24; facsimile PDF page 352 — Facsimile