Names
Kuhlbarsi F.
(Friedrich Kuhlbars, 1841-1924)
Schoolteacher and author of lyrics to Eestimaa, mu isamaa (Estonia, my fatherland), the Estonian Scouts’ anthem. Name probably from MLG kūlebārs (ruffe, Acerina cernua). Part responsible for various ‘mythological’ interpretations of Estonia’s past.
Kuiv (Adj.)
Dry – Kuival olema: to be on the rocks. Odd history: in 1926, the street was called Mäe, switching temporarily to Sula, meaning molten, thawed, soft or liquid (as in sularaha, cash) in 1940-41. But why from ‘mountain’ to ‘dry’? Was it municipal jiggery-pokery and, realizing that a name such as Mäe was as far from topographically possible and simply naming it the opposite of another former name had a fair probability of being vaguely accurate?
Kuke (Kukk)
Cock, rooster. Formerly spelled Kukke and significanly shorter than its present-day layout, it curved around a smaller and shorter Kana tänav. Why these names? Your guess is as good as mine.
Kukermiidi (Kukermiit)
Kukermite: ground, burnt oil-shale combined with portland clinker for concrete. Part of a sand and concrete materials group, see Kvartsi.
Kuklase (Kuklane)
Alternative name for Sipelga, of the Formica genus. Also an archaic name for ant, like its variants kusilane and kusikuklane, suggesting the smell of pee that antheaps often have (kusi = urine), ditto in the English name of yore for ant, ‘pismire’. While I’m waffling, another earlier English name for ant is ‘emmet’ from the Old English æmette, and, along with modern German Ameise, derived from the hypothetical *ai-, off or away, + *mait-, to cut or hew. German etymologists are still arguing whether it means that the ant body is segmented, or that they hew (read ‘bite’) off pieces of plant. Part of an insect street-name group. See also Parmu.
