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I don't think we can look at those original Dragons to fill in the gaps that Tolkien left in his. Tolkien's borrowed mythical beings differ drastically from their traditional folklore counterparts.
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Because the mythical beings are borrowed, Obloquy, there are enough similarities. Your examples don't help your assertion regarding drastic differences because Gnomes don't exist in Tolkien's mythos (unless you refer to his old usage from BOLT, which he revised, rendering that usage un-canon) and Tolkien's Elves do indeed hearken back to an older tradition than the corrupted Victorian pixie-style elfs.
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I would avoid transferring features from them to Tolkien's. Tolkien's mythology was entirely independent.
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By independent, do you mean that it stands alone, or that it is entirely divorced or autonomous from any heritage, or something else? Obviously, it stands alone, but that's not saying much. Anyone with any literary discernment can tell that Tolkien's mythos is his and not something else. To say that it is entirely divorced or autonomous is to deny all the roots which Tolkien himself acknowledged, such as the Elder Edda, etc. Check out this fascinating website regarding Tolkien's sources.
Sources of the Lord of the Rings. If by entirely independent you mean something else, please explain.
[ March 17, 2002: Message edited by: littlemanpoet ]