Names
Karuvildiku (‘Karuvildik’?)
Not quite sure. Lit. “bear-felt boot” (“bearskin boot”?). Felt, vilt:vildi, from MLG vilt, filt, from PIE *hwel or *hwol is cognate with wool (Norw. ull, Ger. Wolle, whence Est. vill:ville) and which, due to the turning/rubbing/rolling/churning movements in making it, raises questions as to its relation to ‘wheel’ via the root *hwl/hl > *kwel- to revolve or move round, thence *kw(e)-kwl-o- wheel and circle – comments welcome. Given its company, fair to assume it could be (intended as?) the name of a moss, although quite a thorough search found no mention of the name. Closest we get is kännuvildik, the aulacomnium or lover’s moss, Aulacomnium androgynum. Street not actually in Tallinn but 300 m away in neighboring Laagri. See also Käolina.
Kase (Kask)
Birch, birch-tree. Various species: Arukaskede; madal kask, aka marokõiv (see Kõivu) or kassi pässad (“cat’s thumbs” [misnomer for digital pads, the spongy bits?] perhaps), no English name, Betula humilis; vaevakask, dwarf birch, B. nana; and the Sookaskede.
Kaskede (Kased [pl.])
Birches, birch-trees. (Sing.: Kask, see previous entry: Kase).
Käsperti J.
(Johannes Käspert, 1886-1937)
Asjaajaja (nice word – try saying this late one Friday night: majarajaja asjaajaja ja jalavajaja jama ajavad, meaning, if you’re really desperate to know how contrived these things can be: “the housebuilder’s records clerk and a legless man are bluffing”, but see also Kadaka), or Secretary of the short-lived (about six months) Soviet of the Commune of the Working People of Estonia, presumably executed during Stalin’s Great Purge of 1937-38. Soviet occupation renaming of Hiiu-Suurtüki in Nõmme, 1959-1960, then in 1960-1987/90 of Suurtüki / Kotzebue.
Kassi (Kass)
Cat. After local farm of that name. Kass is also a surname (e.g. Carmen, the supermodel chess-player) and animal names were a popular choice for Estonians to adopt as they went through various phases of emancipation. It’s a long story and far too complex for the present but, very briefly, Estonian peasants were usually named by and/or after the farm or estate they worked on. At the turn of the 19th C, along with the abolition of serfdom, they were allowed to choose their own names (but nothing vulgar or blasphemous, perhaps a copy-and-paste effect of events in Revolutionary France). In the 1840s, over 100,000 Lutheran peasants switched camp to Orthodoxy (regretting it later, but that’s another story) and also switched names. Later again, another wave of occurred during the National Awakening, (see, e.g. Kreutzwaldi F.R.) with Koidula and co opting for symbolic Estonian names, acting as role models for others, Then in 1903, another novel idea popped up: find a placename ending in -vere, drop that bit and discover a real, old, traditional Estonian name, ending the stem in -o for men (possibly influencing that of Asso) and -e or -a for women. There may well be more. Can’t keep up with the buggers.
Kassikäpa (Kassikäpp)
Catsfoot, Cat’s-ear or, as I’m led to believe pussytoes, Antennaria spp., a herbaceous perennial.
