Editing Elemental (section)

===Paracelsus===
In his 16th-century work ''[[A Book on Nymphs, Sylphs, Pygmies, and Salamanders, and on the Other Spirits]]'', [[Paracelsus]] identified mythological beings as belonging to one of the four elements. Part of the ''Philosophia Magna,'' this book was first printed in 1566 after Paracelsus' death.<ref>Paracelsus. Four Treatises of Theophrastus Von Hohenheim Called Paracelsus. JHU Press, 1996. p. 222</ref> He wrote the book to "describe the creatures that are outside the cognizance of the light of nature, how they are to be understood, what marvellous works God has created". He states that there is more bliss in describing these "divine objects" than in describing fencing, court etiquette, cavalry, and other worldly pursuits.<ref>Paracelsus. Four Treatises of Theophrastus Von Hohenheim Called Paracelsus. JHU Press, 1996. p. 224</ref> The following is his archetypal being for each of the four  elements:<ref>Carole B. Silver, ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness'', p. 38 {{ISBN|0-19-512199-6}}</ref>

*[[Gnome]], being of earth
*[[Undine (alchemy)|Undine]], being of water
*[[Sylph]], being of air
*[[Salamander (legendary creature)|Salamander]], being of fire

The concept of elementals seems to have been conceived by [[Paracelsus]] in the 16th century, though he did not in fact use the term "elemental" or a German equivalent.<ref>Paracelsus, ''Liber de nymphis, sylphis, pygmaeis et salamandris et de caeteris spiritibus.'' in ''Philosophia magna, de divinis operibus et seretis naturae. V. 1.'' Date unknown, but thought to be a later work.</ref> He regarded them not so much as spirits but as beings between creatures and spirits, generally being invisible to mankind but having physical and commonly humanoid bodies, as well as eating, sleeping, and wearing clothes like humans. Paracelsus gave common names for the elemental types, as well as correct names, which he seems to have considered somewhat more proper, "''recht namen''". He also referred to them by purely German terms which are roughly equivalent to "water people," "mountain people," and so on, using all the different forms interchangeably. His fundamental classification scheme on the first page of Tractatus II of the ''Book on Nymphs'' is based on where the elementals live, and he gives the following names:

{|class="wikitable"	 
|-
!Correct name (translated)
!Alternate name (Latin) 
!Element in which it lives
|-
|[[Nymph]] 
|Undina ([[Ondine (mythology)|undine]])
|Water
|-
|[[Sylph]]
|Sylvestris ([[wild man]])
|Air
|-
|[[Pygmy (Greek mythology)|Pygmy]]
|Gnomus ([[gnome]])
|Earth
|-
|[[Salamanders in folklore and legend|Salamander]]
|Vulcanus
|Fire
|-
|}
	 
Of the names he used, ''gnomus'', ''undina'', and ''sylph'' are all thought to have appeared first in Paracelsus' works, though ''undina'' is a fairly obvious Latin derivative from the word ''unda'' meaning "wave."

In ''De Meteoris'' he referred to the elementals collectively as ''Sagani''.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Pagel|first1=Walter|title=Paracelsus: An Introduction to Philosophical Medicine in the Era of the Renaissance|date=1982|publisher=Karger Medical and Scientific Publishers|pages=61–62}}</ref>

He noted that undines are similar to humans in size, while sylphs are rougher, coarser, longer, and stronger. Gnomes are short, while salamanders are long, narrow, and lean. The elementals are said to be able to move through their own elements as human beings move through air. Gnomes, for example, can move through rocks, walls, and soil. Sylphs are the closest to humans in his conception because they move through air like we do, while in fire they burn, in water they drown, and in earth, they get stuck. Paracelsus states that each one stays healthy in its particular "[[chaos (cosmogony)|chaos]]," as he terms it, but dies in the others.

Paracelsus conceived human beings to be composed of three parts, an elemental body, a sidereal spirit, and an immortal divine soul. Elementals lacked this last part, the immortal soul. However, by marriage with a human being, the elemental and its offspring could gain a soul.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dennison|first1=Christina Pollock|title=The Paracelsus of Robert Browning|date=1911|publisher=The Baker and Taylor Company|location=New York|pages=42–43|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lIw7AAAAYAAJ&q=Paracelsus%20elemental%20marriage&pg=PA42|access-date=9 May 2015}}</ref>