Talk:Nisse (folklore)

Tomten, Tomte

There are some Wikipedia articles which refer to "Tomten" and some "Tomte". Is this a problem? - dcljr 19:49, 3 Sep 2004 (UTC)

"En tomte" is Swedish for a tomte. "Tomten" is Swedish for the tomte. --Lakefall 19:17, 5 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I guess I would recommend the indefinite form "tomte", but if we have redirections, it shouldn't be a major problem.

In wikipedia in general it seems Tomte is used everywere. I find that odd when that is only a swedish word and Nisse is much more common (used in Norway, Denmark and parts of Sweden). Should we rename the article, or are there too many swedish contributors who oppose a less swedish bias?

Strangely, Nisse seems more common on the Interwiki. 惑乱分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 16:37, 16 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In Denmark the " julenisse" and the " julemand" are two different things. The julenisse is the creature from the scandinavian folklore which protect the house ,but the " julemand " is just the danish word for santa claus/ father christmas.

Garden gnomes

Could someone post about how this ancient, pagan Norse figure turned into the modern day garden gnomes we have around outside of Scandinavia? - Bloodofox 9/28/05

Nisse is actually Scandinavian for gnome, so they didn't turn anywhere they are the same.

The Jultomte and the Santa Claus are the same. The tomte that wants porridge is another creature. The difference between the Jultomte and Santa Claus is that the Jultomte comes through the door and that he comes on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day. Then the Jultomte can live on the North Pole but we should now that Greenlandand Lappland are north of the pole circle.

Tomte sport

Is this a real sport? Is it notable? It looks like nonsense. 惑乱分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 08:29, 4 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I deleted it per WP:NFT. —Ashley Y 07:29, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Julemanden

There is some confusion here between nissen and Julemanden.

The Danish name for Santa is Julemanden (he Christmass Man). It is he who lives in Greenland. When nisser is said to live in Greenland, it is as Santa's little helpers. Santa has no assosiation with elves. He is much as in the US, including the flying sled. However, since the gifts are given after dinner on Christmass eve in these parts, he can not sneak in during the night. If you have someone dress up he may knock on the door, or simply appear in the living room.

If a nisse rather than Julemanden is said to bring the gifts, he does not live in Greenland. He usually lives in the attic of the house. While he may be called nissen, "the nisse", this is understood to mean "the nisse that lives in this house", not "the one and only nisse" (as opposed to Julemanden, who is a singular individual). If you have someone dress up as a nisse, he should not knock on the door, since the nisse lives in the house.

Klausok 17:16, 20 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In Norwegian, "Julenissen" is Santa Claus, "Nissen" is the small protector gnome. 惑乱分からん * \)/ (\ (< \) (2 /) /)/ * 13:13, 16 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

But nowadays, "nissen" usually means "julenissen". People genereally don't talk about any other kind of nisse. 195.159.217.98 (talk) 10:25, 30 November 2007 (UTC) (Nick)[reply]

Nisse (Nils), St. Nikolas

This is something I've never been able to find an answer to, and even with all the information in the wikipedia "Santa Claus" and "Tomte" articles, it isn't there. Is it a coincidence that the word "nisse" has the same etymology as Santa Claus? "Nisse" comes from "Nils", the Scandinavian version of "Nikolas". But Nissen/Tomten is originally a completely separate tradition from St. Nikolas or Sinterclaas. They merged later, first in Denmark in the 1840s according to this article. Either the common name is completely coincidental; or the words "nisse" or "tomtenisse" for the Scandinavian creature was influences by St. Nikolas long before nissen was connected to Christmas, which seems unlikely. Here in Norway the going explanation of the origins of Julenissen is that the word "nisse" comes from St. Nikolas. I've read this countless times, but I can't make it fit. 195.159.217.98 (talk) 10:25, 30 November 2007 (UTC) (Nick)[reply]

After more research it seems that "nisse" (Nils) indeed comes from St. Nikolas. The ancient name for this creature or spirit in Norwegian was "bon" (="bonden", i.e. the farmer), often combined to "godbon" (good "bon") or "haugbon" (mound "bon"). This is from this source. So at some point the bon (or tomte, haugkall, tomtegubbe, tomtebonde) was connected to the St. Nikolas myths and the word nisse started being used. I have no idea when this was though, if it was before the appearance of Julenissen in the latter half of the 1800s in Norway. It also says that the origin of this creature (the bon) was "the old farmer, he who once in pre-Christian times was laid in mound with weapons and tools to watch over the farm and the people there." 195.159.217.98 (talk) 11:00, 30 November 2007 (UTC) (Nick)[reply]