Oru (Org)

Valley. See Kadrioru.

Osja (Osi)

Equisetum, horsetail, Equisetum spp., remarkable survivors from the past. The only known living genus of its kind, this group of plants began evolving in the Middle Devonian (±400 M years ago), becoming a dominant species of the undergrowth of Carboniferous forests, and involuntary contributor to much coal, and still exists today with an almost worldwide distribution. One of a meadow flower or grass group. See Pune.

Osmussaare (Osmussaar)

Lit. ‘malm island’ (its Swedish name of Odensholm, or Odin’s grave, is more romantic). Island 7.5 km off the NW coast of Estonia, 4 km long, uninhabited since the Soviet deportation of 12 farming families, now a nature reserve. Part of an Estonian island group, see Saaremaa.

Oti (Ott)

Man’s name, and old name for bear, with evidently an alternative genitive in the town of Otepää (bear’s head), location of historical hillfort (first recorded in the Novgorod First Chronicle as Медвѣжю голову, or Медвежья Голова (bear’s head) in modern Russian, for the year 1116) in southern Estonia and, hard to believe, not used to name a single Tallinn street. The spelling of pää, incidentally, was recommended in 1871 by Jakob Hurt, linguist and “father/king of Estonian folklore”, who served there as pastor at one time, to replace the northern dialect form pea (likewise hää for hea), but it failed to catch on. His face is on the 10-krooni note (for information on Estonian currency, see Krooni). Not unexpectedly, given its location in an essentially fish-named area, an old farm name, but see Otsatalu.

Otsa G.

(Georg Ots, 1920-1975)

Estonian baritone, beautiful, smooth voice. Born in Petrograd, son of Kaarel Ots, another renowned tenor. Best known for his title role in Rubinstein’s The Demon. And a pretty good swimmer too, winning national championships and breaking records such as the 1939 1500-m freestyle at Nõmme swimming-pool in 23:38:8 mins. The lucky lad has a taxi rank named after him too.