Names
Vääna (Vääna):
Various explanations for this… It may be named after a ‘nearby’ village or manor, the latter thought to have originally been a fortress, and later (1306/1325?) a poolmõis (see Mõisa) belonging to Padise monastery. Known historically as Faehna or Feyena, Veghenoya (all 14th-C) where the name (with an Oja tacked on) could, conceivably, have derived from MLG vēen, vēyen, etc., to hate or treat with hostility, evolving into Ger. feien, to render invulnerable (cognates Ger. Feind, enemy and Eng. fiend), a reasonable name for a fortress…), but this seems a bit over the top. More likely: simply from the nearby winding river Vääna (cf. väänama, to twist)! On the other hand, it looks suspiciously like the backstories in Väo and Lükati, but there’s no convincing evidence. What is odd is why (if they did) did they choose the name of a manor house some 16-odd km futher west? Anyone’s guess. Formerly Raadio (see Tähetorni) (until 1927), then Pioneeri (see Pioneeride) (1927-59), and Lao (see Moonalao) (1959-60).
Vaari (Vaar)
Grandfather, old man. The expression Vaar ja moor (see Moora) suggests it comes from Swedish where far and mor mean father and mother. Street, interestingly, named for being on the wrong side of the track to Hallivanamehe. See Äia.
Vabaduse puiestee (Vabadus)
Avenue in Nõmme renamed only once, briefly, to 21. Juuni from 1940-1941. Before being a road, however, records* (1926) list it as Vana kindluse raudtee, old defensive railway, after the remains of the confusingly-named Peter the Great’s Naval Fortress, aka Tallinn-Porkkala defense station, a line of fortification scheduled to include (on the Estonian side) hundreds of kilometers of railway with – in addition to the cannon mounted on flatbed wagons – guns on Naissaar, Aegna, Viimsi, Suurupi and Kakumäe designed to protect Saint Petersburg from attack by sea. See Peetri and Noblessneri. Part of the E67 from Helsinki to Prague.
* Although the railway may have been 100 m or so further south...
Vabaduse väljak (Vabadus)
Freedom, liberty. Built over part of the former city walls and bastions (southern part of Pommeri Bastion and northern part of the 1686 Berghi Ravelin), today’s ‘Freedom Square’ has gone through many, many changes. The sequence seems to have been (list lifted from KNAB), if order is possible, first language then most recent date order (with dashes: durations; dates alone: records), roughly as follows:
- 1938; 1939-1941; 1942; 1989-: Vabaduse väljak (freedom square, back at last in 1989. NB: väljak (square) is and sounds more Estonian than the German-sounding plats (also square)
- 1938: Vabadusväljak (ditto)
- 1923-1939: Vabaduse plats (ditto)
- 1966-1989: Võidu väljak (victory square, revamp, note space)
- 1941-1941 (yup, short); and 1948-1966: Võiduväljak (by the Soviets, twice)
- ±1921: Harju turg (market)
- 1875(?), 1910; 1921-1923?: Peetri plats (Peter’s square, after Peter I)
- 1908; 1910: Heina turg (hay market)
- ?: Puu- ja Heinaturg (wood and hay market)
- ?: Palgi turg (timber market)
- 1942: Freiheitsplatz (freedom square)
- 1913: Peterplatz (Peter’s square, after Peter I)
- 1910: Peters-Platz (ditto)
- 1907: Heumarkt (hay market)
- ?: Holz- und Heumarkt (wood and hay market)
- ?: Вабадузе, площадь (Vabaduze ploshchad': площадь = square, transliteration of ‘Vabaduse’)
- ?: Свободы, площадь (Svobody ploshchad': translation of ‘freedom’)
- ?: Выйду, площадь (Vyydu, ploshchad': transliteration of ‘Võidu’)
- ?: Победы, площадь (Pobedy ploshchad': translation of ‘victory’)
- 1910; 1916: Петровская пл. (Petrovskaya pl., Peter’s square, after Peter I)
- ±1767: Новая пл. (Novaya pl.: пл. = sq., new, see Harju)
- ?: Сенной рынокъ (Sennoy rynok [old spelling]: hay (rynok = market)
The manufacture of street-signs is clearly a good business in Estonia.
