Names
Toompea (Toompea) 
‘On the cathedral’. Toom, from Ger. Dom, from Old Fr. dôme, borrowed from Ital. duomo from Lat. domus, metonym for ‘God’s house’ and thence, due to association with the church’s structure, for the dome itself. A wooden fortress known in Russian as Вышгородъ (Vyshgorod, or upper city) is said to have existed there as far back as the 10th C, so the name has been used as much for the castle – castrum (fortress, 1319) and, four centuries later, Ordensschloß or das schloß (Order’s castle, or just plain castle), in Est. as linnapä (top of or above the fortress / citadel) – and the locality: Вышгородъ (Vyshgorod) again or der Dohm (Ger.) or toompä (Old Est.), even getting a mention in Võru as Tuuḿpää. One of Vanalinn’s 4 main Wards (see also All-Linn). Legend has it as Kalev’s final resting-place (see Kalevipoja); archaeologists are still digging… See Toompea tänav.
Toompea tänav (Toompea)
‘On the cathedral’ (see previous entry). Street originally called Die Dom-Brücke (cathedral bridge, 1865) after the wooden bridge over the then moat between Toompea vallivärav (Toompea gate) and Suvorovi A. (now Kaarli), a project driven among others by alderman Falck (Falgi). Since the bridge was long, the road was named Die Langebrücke in 1876, but since it was no longer there, it was dumped in favor of Der alte Domweg (old cathedral way) in 1879, etc., until 1890’s Большой Вышгородскій спускъ (Bol'shoy Vyshgorodskíy spusk), or 'grand upper-city descent') then downhill all the way with trilingual Karlstraße variants in 1907, a less-than-year-long stint as Nõukogude (Soviet) in 1941, back to Charles and kin until 1948 when it finally acquired its current name. Pushkin’s great-grandfather, Abram Gannibal, an African of uncertain origin who arrived in Russia as a child of 8 as a ‘gift’ to Peter the Great and rose to become general, lived at No.1, known as Komandandimaja (commander’s house), from 1742-52 while superintendent of Reval, Tallinn’s name from 1200s-1918. See Toompea.
Toompuiestee (Toompuiestee)
Cathedral avenue, with a varied history of name-change: first known as Kastanienallee / Kastani promenaad and variants (chestnut), etc., and/or (in part) Vauxhallstraße (-1882, see Vaksali), then Вышгородскій бульваръ (Vyshgorod boulevard, 1888, etc.), then Doompea eeslinna puiestee, Dom Vorstadt Promenade, etc. (Toompea suburb ave. / prom., 1907/08). Renamed under Soviet occupation (1961-1989) as Gagarini J..
