Names
Idakaare (Idakaar)
East, eastern quarter on the horizon. And while Idakaare tänav, formerly Ida, runs (approx.) WSW-ENE, Idakaare põik, formerly Minnika (1926-1955) after local homeowner Juhan Minnik, runs NNW-SSE. See Läänekaare. If Minnika veski (Minnika mill) in Raplamaa, whose name in 1798 was Münik, apparently an Estonianization of German Mühle (mill), is anything to go by, the present gentleman’s name may have a similar ancestry too, revealing if nothing else the difficulties in detecting the foreign origin of certain Estonian words. See also Lääne.
Ilmarise (Ilmarine)
Mythological gentleman: god of fire, weather (ilm) and smithing (its multiple meanings also reflect its age, Ilm is a word linguists believe they can track back some 5000-6000 years in Finno-Ugric, and, almost invariably, the further back one goes, the greater the range of meaning). However, this raises an interesting point. The genitive of ilm is ilma and this is associated more with earth, the world (cf. īlma: world, cosmos, air in Livonian): ilmale tooma means to give birth, to bring into the world; ilmaelu means life, existence. Given the importance of the genitive in declining Estonian words, perhaps this tense defined the original word (sticking my neck out under a very sharp axe here, but please note that the present dictionary lays no claims to expertise – be warned). Apart from Tallinn and other conglomerations ending in ‑linn (Pelgulinn), all towns in Estonia are named using the genitive, which makes sense. The descriptor is of something, the word is not the object itself. Of incidental interest, Estonian’s once-neighboring Old Novgorod dialect had a nominoaccusative case, in the feminine plural at least. Interestingly, too, a major lake 6 km north of Novgorod is called Ilmen (Rus. Ильмень), mentioned by that name in The Rus’ Primary Chronicle (Laurentian codex), originally written around 1113. Part of a small Estonian mythology street-name group. See Taara.
