Names
Pikk Jalg (0)
Lit. Long leg/foot. First recorded as longus mons (long hill, 1342), then langer bergh (also long hill, 1372), etc., this is perhaps the clearest indication of what a jalg is topographically. Since Estonian doesn’t specifically differentiate ‘leg’ from ‘foot’ (see, e.g., Sõnajala), what’s referred to here is the ‘foot’ of a ‘mountain’, and hence the slope that led up to the linnus or citadel at the top of the hill. As with Lühike Jalg, ‘Long Rise’ might be a better translation in expressing its functional quality.
Pikksilma (Pikksilm)
Lit. Long eye. Telescope. Street planned in 2011, along with Kiikri, renaming (and extending?) the northern part of Bensiini. New development in Kadriorg where a ship was dug up during construction, about 200 m from the current shore. See Liiva or Paljassaare for information on Estonia’s and Tallinn’s slow rise from the sea. Possibly sunk due to fire, the ship was renamed Peeter after the excavator operator, and, built no earlier than 1296, probably sunk around 1320-1330. Interesting to note that this ship used moss as caulking. See also Tuukri, where a similar find was made next to this.
Pikri (Pikker)
Also spelled Piker, lit. the ‘long one’ (Slender Man?). Mythological personification of thunder, aka Pikse*, etc., probably related to Perkūnas* of the Lithuanians (*for both, see Pikse). Renamed (1979-1995) as Pasternaki M. during the late Soviet occupation). Part of a magico-mythological group. See Saarepiiga.
Pikse (Pikne)
Once an otherworldly ruler of the weather, also and otherwise known as Äike, Kõu, Paristaja, or Pikker (see Pikri) (although Kõu and Pikker are usually considered to be brothers, sons of Uku), apparently related to Lithuanian Perkūnas (from PIE *perkwunos, giving also rise to Celtic Taranis and Irish Tuireann, Norse Thor, Slavic Perun and, it seems, Vedic Parjanya), a Baltic god of thunder associated with the oak (*perkwus is PIE for oak [cf. Latin quercus], fir or ‘wooded mountain’, and also signifying toughness or strength); today, a thunderstorm, more commonly known as äike. Non-existent street (or woodland path?) next to Välgu, another non-existent street (they’ll clear the forest one day, unless they’re hoping that an appeal to the god of electro-celestial tree-hugging might do it for them). Pikne (Pitkne, old spelling) was also another term for snake.
Piksepeni (Piksepeni)
Lit. Thunderstorm dog (peni, or penni or pini), is an alternative or dialect word for dog, more common in the southern half of Estonia, cf. Livonian piņ, but see also Eastern Sámi pienneoi in Eerikneeme, or beana in Northern(?) Sámi. Strictly, a woolly bear: caterpillar of the Arctiidae moth family, but also name of the scarlet tiger moth itself, Callimorpha dominula and probably used, as in English, for a variety of hairy caterpillars (see also Kannustiiva). Part of a lepidopteran group. See also Päevakoera.
Pille (Pille)
A woman’s name, popular in the 1920s & 30s. Street co-created with its crossroad Tiiu in 2009, possibly influenced by Õilme. Name perhaps derived from Sibülle, Estonian spelling of Sibyl, the oracle, not sibul, the onion (see Sibulaküla).
