Names
Petrooleumi (Petrooleum)
Petroleum. Street created/named around 1904 after the Nobel Brothers’ petroleum depot. Albert did not make all his money from dynamite and gelignite, far from it: he and his brothers Ludvig (and later his son Emanuel) and Robert were among the world’s leading oil barons, with some 50% of global oil production coming from their company Branobel in Baku, Azerbaijan. Formerly known as Kerosini or Kerossini, part of an oil street-name group. See Bensiini. One-time location of Tallinn’s main station for trains to the south: Felliner Bahnhof II aka Willjandi Waksal II aka Reval-Hafenbahnhof aka Tallinn-Sadama raudteejaam. See Tallinn-Türi.
Pidu (0)
Festival, feast, banquet, public celebration. Odd, the genitive of pidu is peo, and Laulupeo (1923) corrected itself two years after initially naming itself Laulupidu, and this was created in 1927... Crosses Leina suggesting the ‘party’ might actually have been the wake... But, no, named for nearby square hosting folk festivals, the nominative hinting at a longer history of festival usage.
Pihlaka (Pihlakas)
Aka harilik pihlakas, rowan, common or European rowan, mountain ash, Sorbus aucuparia. Considered a holy tree. Its berries are an important food for many Estonian birds. Group of berry streets near the Liiva kalmistu. See Pihlamarja.
Pihlamarja (Pihlamari)
Alternative name for pihlakamari, the rowanberry, 3 of which are native to Estonia:
- Harilik pihlakas, aka pihelgas, pihlak, pihl, pihlapuu and probably others, rowan or mountain-ash, Sorbus aucuparia
- Tuhkpihlakas, rock whitebeam, S. rupicola (some confusion as to Latin name)
- Valge pihlakas, whitebeam or common whitebeam, S. aria, aka Aria edulis
- Poop or Pooppuu (the titterlicious poop:pooba does not seem to occur elsewhere in Estonian and is thought to derive from either MLG bȫke or Swed. bok [beech], and Puu will tell you more so get your mind out of the gutter), Swedish whitebeam, Scandosorbus intermedia
Group of berry streets near the Liiva kalmistu. See Pohla.
Pihlametsa (Pihlamets)
Rowan wood, grove.
Piibelehe (Piibeleht)
Lit. pipe-leaf, alternative name for Maikellukese, lily of the valley, Convallaria majalis, etymology uncertain: piip:piibu prob. from Swed. pipa (pipe or whistle, the pipe being the whitish stem of a clay pipe, which could resemble one of its rhizomes), but the association of leht:lehe tacked onto piip:piibu suggests the whistling noise made by tensing two leaves, like blades of grass, between the fingers and blowing. In English, the tip of the rhizome (for some, the rhizome itself or even the entire plant) is called a ‘pip’, so we’re dealing with a much time-bemisted word here.
