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Suur-Ameerika (Suur-Ameerika)
Greater/Upper America. First recorded in 1877 as Große Amerikastraße after local inn called Wirt(h)shaus America (the ‘h’ is Kivi’s) on the corner of this street and Pärnu. But, looking at the 1880s Neuer Plan der Gouvernements Stadt Reval, two things are of note: 1) the Bierbrauerei (brewery) at the SW end of Tõnismägi; and that the then Suur-Ameerika veered NE at about the same place as today's Õllepruuli. This created the 3-street crossroads of Suur-Ameerika, Tõnismägi and Pärnu, in which case the 1877 record suggests that the Wirtshaus America and Bierbrauerei were one and the same. Renamed (1950-1991) as Komsomoli during the Soviet occupation.
Suur Rannavärav (0)
Greater/Upper coastal gate. First known as vanilla Ranna värav (1885), followed by Große Strandpforte (1907) then Suur-Rannavärava tänav, Great coastal-gate street, until 1987. Eliminating the tänav to call it Suur Rannavärav, Great coastal gate, loses it its dash, but not its elegance. Northernmost of the two ‘Coastal gates’: if there were only 2 of them, shouldn’t it be ‘northernmore’? See Väike Rannavärav.
Suru (Suru)
1) Swarming of gnats; 2) Press, throng; 3) Hawk-moth (Sphingidae). Has to be No.3. Who would foist the others onto their tenants (but see Sipelga)? No.2 might have been apt during the collective apartment period, but No.1? See Sipelga, dammit! Part of a lepidopteran group. See also Sügislase (or, why not, Sipelga).
