tonttu

Finnish

Etymology

Cognate with Swedish tomte

Noun

tonttu

1. (folklore) A miniature mythical humanoid creature believed to live in the forests and in or near people's dwellings, similar to an elf or gnome.
2. An elf (Santa's helper).
3. A fool (person with poor judgment or little intelligence).

Declension

Declension of tonttu (type valo) singular plural nominative tonttu tontut genitive tontun tonttujen partitive tonttua tonttuja accusative tonttu tontun tontut inessive tontussa tontuissa elative tontusta tontuista illative tonttuun tonttuihin adessive tontulla tontuilla ablative tontulta tontuilta allative tontulle tontuille essive tonttuna tonttuina translative tontuksi tontuiksi instructive – tontuin abessive tontutta tontuitta comitative – tonttuineen

Synonyms

• (humanoid in folklore): haltija
• (Santa's helper): joulutonttu
• (fool): hölmö, höntti, pöhkö, pösilö, tomppeli, toope

Compounds

In the folklore the elves were often named according to their habitat. At least the following exist:

• aittatonttu
• kotitonttu
• myllytonttu
• nokitonttu
• riihitonttu
• saunatonttu
• tallitonttu

Anagrams

• tontut