Mõigu (Mõik)

The word means ‘utricle’ (either the plant, a ‘small bladder’ or chamber of the inner ear...), but actually after a nearby manor. Its former cemetery, Mõigu kalmistu (Ger. Friedhof / Kirchhof von Moik), was built for Baltic-Germans in 1774 as a result of Catherine the Great’s 1772 edict, just after the Moscow plague and riot, prohibiting burials in church crypts or within city walls. Razed by the Soviet army in 1950-51 along with the Kopli and Kalamaja cemeteries. Settlements date back to late Bronze Age. First recorded 1241 as Møikæ, where the -æ may represent a Dano-Latin genitive of an unconfirmed name, poss. Mõik:Mõigu, or from mõigas or meigas, see Meika and Meleka, then Maeykokulle (1541) and Moykell (1620), remembering that küla means village.

• Mõis
• Asum (Sub-district)

Mõisa (Mõis)

Country estate, manor. This one referring to former Haabersti mõis across the road. Mõisad come in various types, with meanings often overlapping (my grasp of the relevant subtleties being extremely limited, I strongly recommend visiting the highly informative www.mois.ee):

• Bürgerimõis: “bourgeois manor”, alternative name for poolmõis round about 1919 for some reason
• Eramõis (Ger. Privatgut): lit. “private manor”. In their earliest, feudal form, a manor or estate would likely be a fiefdom, e. a property granted to a vassal by an overlord in exchange for allegiance or payment; over time, these properties became unrestricted and unqualified ownerships, or freeholds, under allodial title (French alleu)
• Hospidalimõis: a landholding belonging to a local ‘hospital’, although this may also be a ‘spital’ house, e. stopping-point for wayfarers, or an almshouse. Tallinn examples include Väo, Rae (belonging to Jaani Seek) and Mõigu (ditto to Toompea cathedral)
• Linnamõis: city manor, of 2 types
  • Riigimõis, but in a town, Haabersti mõis being one of these
  • A city rüütlimõis or subunit
• Kloostrimõis: a landholding belonging to a local monastery, the only one in Estonia being Purila mõis, belonging to Pirita monastery
• Kirikumõis: a landholding belonging to a local church, ensuring the pastor’s income
• Riigimõis: state-owned ‘crown manor’, originating after the Livonian war as means of ensuring state revenue (but see above)
• Poolmõis: Lit. “half-manor”, recent term (1960ish) to describe 19^th-early-20^th-C small-scale independent farming ‘manors’, estates or landholdings with neither the size nor rights of a rüütlimõis, sometimes a relic of the latter, these also tended to come in various denominations
• Karjamõis (Ger. Hoflage): stock-rearing ‘manor’ (could be just a farm), a typical rüütlimõis would have 1 or 2 of these
• Kõrvalmõis: (lit. side-manor, Ger. Beigut/Beihof, aka majandusmõis, or economic manor): a landholding of economic interest formed of smaller local manors under a single ownership
• Rüütlimõis: knight’s or knightly manor, originally feudal. Size seemed to be a deciding factor, the minimum being some 450 dessiatins – (десятина, tiin in Estonian), 1 of which = 2400 square sazhen' (саже́нь or са́жень), the latter equivalent to 1 fathom or 7 ft, so just over 1 hectare (1.09 ha) or 2.7 acres – or 500ish ha. Among their rights were being allowed to operate a mill or inn, make beer and vodka, and hunt
• Suvemõis (Ger. Höfchen): summer estate used, not surprisingly, in summer for personal or business activities suited to the season and not suitable to all-year occupation

• HAABERSTI
• Haabersti