What is a tomte? The quiet house spirit behind the name
A tomte is a small house spirit from Scandinavian folklore who looks after the home and asks for little in return. The story, and why my screen has his name.
Short answer: A tomte is a small house spirit from Scandinavian folklore. In Sweden he's called a tomte, in Norway and Denmark a nisse, in Finland a tonttu. He lives on the farm or in the house, quietly looks after the people and the animals, and works at night when nobody is watching. All he asks in return is respect and, on Christmas Eve, a bowl of porridge with a knob of butter. The name comes from the Swedish word tomt, the plot of land a home stands on: the tomte is the one who lives there.
The old tomte: keeper of the farm
In the old stories the tomte is small, often no taller than a child, with a grey or red pointed cap. He's old, strong for his size and serious about his work. He keeps an eye on the horses and the cows, tidies up, and makes sure the household is doing things properly.
He isn't always sweet. A tomte expects the farm to be run well and to be treated with respect. Forget his porridge or mock him, and he may play tricks, or even leave, taking the farm's good luck with him. The best-known story is about a tomte who found no butter in his Christmas porridge and took his revenge on the farmer's cow, then found the butter hidden at the bottom of the bowl, too late.
How the tomte became part of Christmas
In the 1800s the tomte moved from farm stories into Christmas. Poems, magazines and Christmas cards gave him a friendlier face. A well-known poem by the Swedish writer Viktor Rydberg describes a tomte walking around a sleeping farm on a cold winter night, wondering about life. Over time the tomte merged with the Christmas gift-bringer, and today in Sweden the jultomte brings the presents on Christmas Eve.
That's why in December you'll see tomte figures everywhere: little felt figures with long beards and caps pulled down over their eyes.
Tomte, nisse, gnome: are they the same?
Close cousins, not twins. Tomte and nisse are the same spirit under Swedish and Norwegian or Danish names. Gnome is a broader word for small earth spirits in European folklore, and it's the word English speakers often use for tomte decorations. The difference is the job: a gnome lives in the earth or the garden, while a tomte belongs to one particular home and looks after it.
Why I named my screen Tiny Tomte
When I was looking for a name, I kept coming back to what I wanted the screen to be like. It should help around the house quietly: show the time, the weather, the list, and then step back. It shouldn't ask for attention, and it shouldn't glow at night. That's a tomte.
So the device is called Tiny Tomte, and the little character inside it is called Tomte. He's a small, simple figure with a pointed cap, helpful and maybe up to a little mischief, like the tomtar in the old stories.
How I drew him
He changed a lot in a few days. The first sketch was a soft white block with round hands and no cap at all. Then he got a cap, and I redrew him in big pixels to see how he'd look on a 1-bit screen.
Then I settled the look with a designer: a tall black cap with a curl at the tip, a black oval for a face, and white eyes that do all the talking. No mouth, no beard.
On the screen he's drawn smoothly at the screen's own resolution, in two colours and with no grey. All his moods are in the eyes and in his little hands.
He only shows up when something happens, because a calm screen shouldn't have a character hanging around while you're trying to read it. He wakes up when you press a button after a quiet spell, peeks out for a moment when you tick something off, and falls asleep when the screen goes to rest. While the screen is showing you something useful, he stays out of the way, as a good tomte should.
He doesn't have a beard, and he isn't only for Christmas: he lives with you all year. And no porridge required.
If you'd like to meet him, you can watch him wake up, fall asleep or peek out when something is done in your browser. Give it a few seconds after the page loads. If you're wondering what kind of screen he lives on, I wrote about why it isn't e-ink. And if you'd like him on your desk, join the waitlist.
FAQ
What does tomte mean?
It comes from the Swedish tomt, the plot of land where a house or farm stands. A tomte is the spirit who lives on that land and looks after it.
How do you pronounce tomte?
Roughly "TOM-teh", with a short o.
Is a tomte the same as a nisse?
Yes. Tomte is the Swedish name and nisse the Norwegian and Danish name for the same house spirit. In Finland he's called tonttu.
Is a tomte a gnome?
Not quite. In English, tomte figures are often called Scandinavian gnomes. But a gnome is a general earth spirit, while a tomte belongs to a particular home and looks after it.