7
Nymphs and Gnomes
The last chapter has brought us down to earth. Now we shall round off our
theological tour by surveying a miscellany of deities and supernatural beings
who, while not constituent elements of our terrestrial environment like the
Waters or the Earth-goddess herself, inhabit some part of it.
If Indo-European religious experience was in part a response to the orderly
beauties of the heavens and the tumultuous dramas of the troposphere,
another part of it was prompted by the more numinous aspects of the natural
landscape. Away from human settlements, out in the wild where we do not
feel at home, the encounter with forest or mountain may arouse exultation,
awe, or unease. The oldest Indo-European holy places seem to have been
situated amid nature, associated with trees, groves, or springs. Hittite gods
had their stelai set up in such places, and numerous writers from antiquity on
tell of the sacred trees and groves of the Celtic, Germanic, Baltic, and Slavonic
peoples.^1 We have seen that rivers and springs were themselves objects of
veneration. There are many records too of worship directed towards holy
trees.^2
But here we are concerned with the more personal beings that live Out
There, in trees or caves or underground, not fixed in one spot but seen
unpredictably in different places, or not seen but manifested in mocking
voices or mischievous pranks. They are for the most part not unique indi-
viduals but pluralities such as nymphs, elves, dwarfs, or giants. They have only
occasional dealings with humankind, and contact with them is best avoided.
(^1) Gurney (1977), 27, 35 f.; Tac. Germ. 7. 2, 9. 2, 39. 1, 40. 3, 43. 3, Ann. 1. 59, 61, 2. 12, etc.;
Clemen (1928), 15. 27, 26. 23, 46. 3, 72. 13; id. (1936), 93. 3, 95. 2, 96. 8, 97. 9, etc.; C. H. Meyer
(1931), 20. 23, 22. 23, 23. 20, 43. 38, 44. 5, 45. 16, 58. 15, 59. 21. Cf. Grimm (1883–8), 66–87,
1309–12, 1454; Feist (1913), 353 f.; Unbegaun (1948), 422, 429; de Vries (1956), i. 351–3;
M. Green (1986), 21; Vánˇa (1992), 177–9.
(^2) Max. Tyr. 2. 8, ‘the Celts revere Zeus, but the Celtic effigy of Zeus is a tall oak’, cf. Val. Fl. 6.
90; Grimm (1883–8), 75 n. 1, 648–54; Mannhardt (1905), i. 9–70; id. (1936), 442 f. = Clemen
(1936), 112; C. H. Meyer (1931), 6. 21, 26. 37, 30. 35; Vendryès (1948), 281; de Vries (1956), i.
350 f.; id. (1961), 187–90; Biezais–Balys (1973), 413, 424; Vánˇa (1992), 140–2.