gnome

In folklore, a small, mischievous spirit of the earth or mountain. The males are bearded, wear tunics and hoods, and often conceal treasure in their underground dwellings.

The garden gnome, an ornamental representation of these spirits, was first brought from Germany to England in 1850 by Charles Isham for his mansion Lamport Hall, in Northamptonshire.

The term is said to have originated in the 16th century with Swiss physician and alchemist Paracelsus, who took the word from the Greek gnome‘intelligence’, and used it synonymously with the Pygmaei (in Greek mythology, a race of dwarfs said to have lived in north Africa).