Liivamäe (Liivamägi)

Sandy hill, mountain. Earliest record gives German Auf dem Sande and Russian На пескахъ (1881), then Estonian Liiva mäel and Liiva peal (1885), all meaning ‘on the sands’. Over time, the meaning shifted to ‘hill’/’mountain’, as in Auf dem Sandberge / Песочная гора (1890), hinting at a shift of meaning from ‘on’ or ‘on top of’ to that which this might be, irrespective of topology, perhaps also suggesting a change in naming conventions from one based on experience to one simply read about. In a sense, this matches current pronunciations of uncommon words which increasingly depend on reading rather than hearing. The earlier names were long used for various general sandy areas before used for streets. Another earlier designation was Auf dem Sande bei den drei Kreutzen (on the sand near the three crosses) and seems to refer to other crosses memorializing Blackheads who died in a clash with Russians in 1560-09-11 (see Marta). See Mäe for discussion.