Did Tolkien abandon the idea of gnomes in his writings?

[BlackCaptain]

Umm what exactly are they? Ive started reading BoLT 1 and Have no idea what it is. Also, is this Aliminore place in Beleriand?

I've merged your thread with this one BlackCaptain. You'll find the asnwers for the bulk of your question here.

Ithrynluin

 

[Inderjit S]

'Gnome' was a early name for Noldor and was used in the Lost tales legendarium and pre-LoTR Silmarillion work.

 

[Walter]

I just put up sort of a "summary" of this thread at http://www.thetolkienwiki.org/wiki.cgi?Gnomes