Names
Lennuki (Lennuk)
1) Originally, the name of Kalevipoeg’s ship; 2) Airplane, aircraft. Name also given to one of two Russian destroyers (this one, ‘Avtroil’, built, ironically, by Tallinn shipbuilders Bocker and Lange with help from France) hijacked by the British and offered to Estonia in 1919, then flogged to Peruvian Navy in 1933, and scrapped in 1954. See Vambola. Also Soviet occupation renaming (1936-1991) of Mardi.
Lennusadam (0)
Seaplane harbor. Both the port and its remarkable hangar for seaplanes built as part of Peter the Great’s Naval Fortress (see Vabaduse puiestee) are now part of the Estonian Maritime Museum. Group of five ports/harbors in Kalamaja. See Lennusadama.
Lennusadama (Lennusadam)
Seaplane harbor (see Lennusadam), road currently (2025 Q2) half-paved and pointing at the old harbor, itself undergoing transitional development reminiscent of Sotogrande, Spain, close to Gibraltar. Maybe they’ll play water-polo. See Miinisadama.
Lennuse (Lennus)
Patagium. Yes, right... Lennus also means ‘in flight’ and, historically perhaps, absent or AWOL, so that’s not much help. What bothers me is that it seems as if they just bunged any ole thang that looks bird-like into the Lilleküla bird-name group and hoped for the best. See also Sule and Tiiva, they’re a bit iffy too. A patagium is the skin used as gliding-mechanism by bats, flying-squirrels and whatnot (maybe umbrellas too?). But, yes, let’s call it a bird. In the meantime, they don’t have a single street in Tallinn with the proper name of Estonia’s national bird, suitsupääsuke, the barn swallow, Hirundo rustica (see Pääsukese or Suitsupääsuse instead).
Lepa (Lepp)
Alder (also, when genitive leppa, fish or seal blood; or a dialect term for a reddish-brown color). Lepp is thought to be (derived from?) a primitive word designating red. The term today is Punane or puna in compound words, cf. punni in Livonian, but verrev in Võro, and vörös in Hungarian, where veri in Estonian, Finnish and Livonian means blood. On the other hand, red in Veps is rus(ked) or čak, indicating a Lappish relation, cf. ruoksat or similar in various Sami dialects, while blood in Skolt Saami is, again, võrr. Lepa appears in, e.g., Lepatriinu; lepalind, the redstart; and lepariisikas, Lactarius lilacinus, a toadstool producing the red pigment lilacinone. Research suggests it may also be a very early loan-word from an Indo-European language meaning ‘paint’, with vague interconnections with Lithuanian, Latvian and Prussian liepa for lime tree (whose botanical name, Tilia, is cognate with Greek πτελέᾱ (ptelea), elm, which seems to be derived from PIE *el- for red and/or brown (but why?), as is both the elk and the alder (cf. Old Norse ölr, Dutch els, German Erle and Lithuanian alksnis), the outer bark of which produces a reddish-brown dye (aldine red), and what better combination of colors to describe blood. Two main species in Estonia: hall lepp aka valge lepp, grey or speckled alder, Alnus incana and Sanglepa. Previously known as Ellern Straße, Erlenstraße, Лепа (Lepa) and Ольховая (Olkhovaya, alder). Native Americans mixed part of the tree (leaves? flowers?) with powdered bumblebees as an aid for difficult labor. Where on earth did they learn that?
