Names
Kiire (Kiire)
Ray, as in sun or light. Street now suffering from severe personality disorder. Actually, two distinct streets, sorta, on either side of the railway running alongside Tehnika to Balti Jaam. During the Soviet occupation, Väike-Ameerika (E of tracks) was renamed Kiire (1950-1991) and the existing Kiire was renamed Väike-Kiire (1950-1996). Later (1990), the then Kiire tn from the railway to Tulika along with Kiire põik (W of tracks) were renamed Kotkapoja, and Kiire tn from Tehnika (next to the railway) to Pärnu switched back to Väike-Ameerika) while in 1996 (see Bremeni käik) Väike-Kiire reverted to its original Kiire.
Kiisa (Kiisk)
Eurasian Ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernuus, member of the perch family. TT puts this in the raudteejaamade-nimeliste tänavate piirkonnas or, for those who still haven’t learned the language despite its obvious simplicity, the railway-station named street district, so he’s not confusing it with Raudkiisk (see Ogaliku), raud meaning ‘iron’ and kiiskama to glisten or sparkle as all trains should. But, as usual, he’s right, it is indeed one of the group of streets named for stations on the Tallinn-Türi Kitsarööpa line, 20-odd km to the south, so not a fish out of water. See Kohila.
Kiive (Kiive)
One of the numerous alternative or dialectal names for kiivitaja, the lapwing. Other local names include hirmutaja (the ‘frightener’), kiivits, poola kana (Polish chicken), sookajak (marsh gull), tillvitt, tüvitaja and vaenulind (hostile bird). Nice reputation. Two species breed in Estonia:
- kiivitaja, northern lapwing, aka peewit, etc., Vanellus vanellus
- valgesaba-kiivitaja, white-tailed lapwing, V. leucurus
Its rather loose translations sometimes give ‘plover’ but this is a member of the not quite settled subfamily Charadriinae which includes the lapwing, dotterel and plover. According to Kivi, the street was named after the bird often seen on former city commons and should have been Kiivitaja. Why a relatively obscure dialect term was chosen is unclear. The word also translates as ‘lateral torsional buckling’. Hope that helps.
