tonttu
Finnish
Etymology
Borrowed from Swedish tomte.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈtontːu/, [ˈt̪o̞n̪t̪ːu]
- Rhymes: -ontːu
- Syllabification(key): tont‧tu
Noun
tonttu
- (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
Declension
| Inflection of tonttu (Kotus type 1*C/valo, tt-t gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | tonttu | tontut | |
| genitive | tontun | tonttujen | |
| partitive | tonttua | tonttuja | |
| illative | tonttuun | tonttuihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | tonttu | tontut | |
| accusative | nom. | tonttu | tontut |
| gen. | tontun | ||
| genitive | tontun | tonttujen | |
| partitive | tonttua | tonttuja | |
| 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 | |
| Possessive forms of tonttu (type valo) | ||
|---|---|---|
| possessor | singular | plural |
| 1st person | tonttuni | tonttumme |
| 2nd person | tonttusi | tonttunne |
| 3rd person | tonttunsa | |
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