tonttu

Finnish

p
Definitions
  • (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.
  • elf Santa's helper
  • fool person with poor judgment or little intelligence
  • (colloquial) thousand

Etymology

Borrowed from Swedish tomte.

Origin

Swedish

tomte

Gloss

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms