Editing Nisse (folklore) (section)

==Origin theories==

The story of propitiating a [[household deity]] for boons in Iceland occurs in the "Story of [[Thorvald Kodransson|Þorvaldr Koðránsson]] the Far-Travelled" ({{lang|non|Þorvalds þættur víðförla}}) and the ''[[Kristni saga]]'' where the 10th century figure attended to his father Koðrán giving up worship of the heathen idol (called {{lang|non|ármaðr}} or 'year-man' in the saga: {{lang|non|spámaðr}} or 'prophet' in the ''[Þáttr]]'') embodied in stone;{{sfnp|Lecouteux|2015|p=PT150}} this has been suggested as a precursor to the ''nisse'' in the [[monograph]] study by [[Henning Frederik Feilberg]]<!--Feilberg: f-eye-l-barra rhymes with "Edinburgh"-->,{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|pp=16–18}} though there are different opinions on what label or category should be applied to this spirit (e.g., alternatively as Old Norse ''landvættr'' "land spirit").<ref name="mckinnel&ashurst&kick2006"/>

[[Henning Frederik Feilberg|Feilberg]] argued that in Christianized medieval Denmark the ''puge'' (cog. Old Norse {{lang|non|puki}}, German ''puk'' cf. ''[[Nis Puk]]''; English [[puck (folklore)|puck]]) was the common name for the ancient pagan deities, regarded as devils or fallen angels. Whereas Feilberg here only drew a vague parallel between ''puge'' and ''nisse'' as nocturnally active,{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|pp=16–18}} this ''puge'' or ''puk'' in medieval writings may be counted as the oldest documentation of ''nisse'', by another name, according to [[Henning Eichberg]].{{Refn|Eichberg takes an example from the medieval ''[[Lucidarius]]'', Danish translated version, printed 1510. See [[Nis Puk]].}}<ref name="eichberg2018"/> But [[Claude Lecouteux]] handles ''puk'' or ''puge'' as distinct from ''niss''[''e''].<ref name="lecouteux-dict-niss"/>

Feilberg made the fine point of distinction that ''tomte'' actually meant a planned building site (where as ''tun'' was the plot with a house already built on it), so that the Swedish ''tomtegubbe'', Norwegian ''tuftekall'', {{lang|no|tomtevætte}}, etc. originally denoted the {{lang|da|jordvætten}} ("earth wights").{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|p=13}} The thrust of Feilberg's argument considering the origins of the  ''nisse'' was a combination of a nature spirit and an ancestral ghost (of the pioneer who cleared the land) guarding the family or particular plot.<ref>{{harvp|Feilberg|1918}} "2. Nisseskikkelsens Udspring [Origins of the nisse figure]", pp. 10–15.</ref> The nature spirits―i.e., ''tomtevætte'' ("site wights"), {{lang|da|haugbue}} ("howe/mound dwellers"),{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|p=13}} "underground wights" ({{lang|da|undervætte, underjordiske vætte}}),{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|pp=12–13}} or dwarves, or ''vætte'' of the forests―originally freely moved around Nature, occasionally staying for short or long periods at people's homes, and these transitioned into house-wights ({{lang|da|husvætte}}) that took up permanent residence at homes.{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|p=13}} In one tale, the sprite is called ''nisse'' but is encountered but by a tree stump (not in the house like a ''bona fide'' ''nisse''), and this is given as an example of the folk-belief at its transitional stage.{{Refn|Tale localized at [[Rønnebæksholm]] outside [[Næstved]]. The ''nisse'' wore green clothes and a red hat.{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|p=13}}}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|However, the ''nisse'' living in the woods was not necessarily replaced or superseded. According to one source the Danes today still remember there is a separate wood ''nisse'' that wears green or brown, much smaller than the house ''nisse'' which wears gray.<ref name="HistDictDenmark-thomas2016"/>}} But there is also the aspect of the ghost of the pioneer who first cleared the land, generally abiding in the woods or heaths he cleared, or seeking a place at the family hearth, eventually thought to outright dwelling in the home, taking interest in the welfare of the homestead, its crops, and the family members.{{sfnp|Feilberg|1918|p=14}}

There are two 14th century [[Old Swedish]] attestations to the {{lang|non|tomta gudhane}} "the gods of the building site". In the "Själinna thröst" ("Comfort of the Soul"), a woman sets the table after her meal for the deities, and if the offering is consumed, she is certain her livestock will be taken care of. In the ''Revelations'' of [[Saint Birgitta]] (''Birgittas uppenbarelser''), it is recorded that the priests forbade their congregation from providing offerings to the {{lang|non|tompta gudhi}} or "tomte gods", apparently perceiving this to be competition to their entitlement to the [[tithe]] ({{lang|la|Revelationes}}, book VI, ch. 78).{{sfnp|Schön|1996|pp=11–12}}{{Refn|name="lecouteux-brigitt"|Lecouteux,<ref name="lecouteux2015">{{cite book|last=Lecouteux |first=Claude |author-link=Claude Lecouteux |chapter=16 The Contract with the Spirits |title=Demons and Spirits of the Land: Ancestral Lore and Practices |publisher=Simon and Schuster |date=2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmAoDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT151 |page= |isbn=<!--1620554003, -->9781620554005}}</ref> citing [[:sv:Waldemar Liungman|Liungman, Waldemar ]] (1961) ''Das Rå und der Herr der Tiere''.}}<ref name="swedishpress">{{Cite web |last=Andersson |first=Lara |author-link=<!--Lara Andersson--> |date=2018-12-22 |title=The Swedish Tomte |website=Swedish Press |url=https://swedishpress.com/the-genealogy-of-the-swedish-tomte/ |access-date=2024-03-16 |language=en-US}}</ref>{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|name="martin_amberg"|In medieval Germany the household spirit ''[[Schrat|schretlein]]'' or ''[[Drude|trut]]'' ({{lang|de|Trud}}) was offered pairs of little red shoes, against Christian teachings, according to Martin von Amberg (c. 1350–1400).<ref name="hagen1837"/>}} There is not enough here to precisely narrow down the nature of the deity, whether it was land spirit ({{lang|sv|tomta rå}}) or a household spirit ({{lang|sv|gårdsrå}}).<ref name="lecouteux2015"/>

{{multiple image
| align             = right
| total_width       = 360
| image1            = Olaus(1555)-Hist septentrionalibus-p127-stable-tomte(detail center).jpg
| alt1              = Dæmon or a ''tomte/nisse'' sweeping stable
| caption1          = Dæmon or a ''tomte/nisse''<ref name="lecouteux-dict-tomte"/><ref name="eichberg2018"/> sweeping the stable with broom{{efn|Detail of woodcut:. See [[:File:Olaus(1555)-Hist septentrionalibus-p127-daemons-servicing.jpg|this file]] for full view.}}{{right|—Olaus Magnus (1555){{Refn|''Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus'' Book 3, Ch. 22. "On the services performed by demons".<ref name="olaus"/><ref name="olaus-eng"/>}}}}
| image2            = Carta Marina-B-k-daemon.jpg
| alt2              = The demon on the colored map
| caption2          = The dæmon on the colored map{{right|—Olaus Magnus (1539) ''Carta Marina''.}}
| footer            = <!---->
}}

Several helper-demons were illustrated in the Swedish writer [[Olaus Magnus]]'s 1555 work, including the center figure of a spiritual being laboring at a [[stable]] by night (cf. fig. right).<ref name="olaus"/><ref name="olaus-eng"/> It reprints the same stable-worker picture found on the map ''Carta Marina'', B, k.<ref name="olaus-eng"/> The prose annotation to the map, ''Ain kurze Auslegung und Verklerung'' (1539) writes that these unnamed beings in the stables and mine-works were more prevalent in the pre-Christian period than the current time.<ref name="olaus-CartaMarina"/> The sector "B" of this map where the drawing occurs spanned [[Finnmark]] (under Norway) and West Lappland (under Sweden).<ref name="olaus-CartaMarina"/> While Olaus does not explicitly give the local vernacular (Scandinavian) names, the woodcuts probably represent the ''tomte'' or ''nisse'' according to modern commentators.{{sfnp|Schön|1996|p=10}}<ref name="lecouteux-dict-tomte"/><ref name="eichberg2018"/>

Later folklore says that a ''tomte'' is the soul of a slave during [[Scandinavian paganism|heathen times]], placed in charge of the maintenance of the household's farmland and fields while the master was away on [[viking raids]], and was duty-bound to continue until [[Last Judgment|doomsday]].<ref name="afzelius1"/>