in European folklore, a gnome is described as a dwarfish, subterranean goblin or earth spirit who guards mines of precious treasures hidden in the earth. He is represented in medieval mythologies as a small, physically deformed (usually hunchbacked) creature resembling a dry, gnarled old man. Gob, the king of the gnome race, ruled with a magic sword and is said to have influenced the melancholic temperament of man. The word comes from Renaissance Latin gnomus, which first appears in the works of 16th century Swiss alchemist Paracelsus. He describes them as two spans high, very reluctant to interact with humans, and able to move through solid earth as easily as humans move through air.