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Tina (Tina)
Tricky word, ranging from (or commonly used to mean) ‘tin’ through ‘pewter’ to ‘lead’. KNAB lists the street as Свинцовая (svintsovaya [leaden] in 1900, as an aside, сви́нка (svinka), an ingot of metal such as pig iron, is calqued on English ‘swine’), followed by Bleistraße (lead) in 1907, then Tina in 1908. Periodic elements 50 & 82 are, respectively, tin (Eng.), tina (Est.) & Zinn (Ger.) and lead, plii & Blei, so not the same. While EES correctly identfies tina as ‘tin’ (Sn: stannum) and plii as ‘lead’ (Pb, callipygia-alert: plumbum), it also adds ‘lead’ to ‘tin’. Various neighboring FU languages also hover between ‘tin’ and ‘lead’. And one official Tallinn website which will remain nameless once translated tina as pewter, where tinasulam, ‘tin alloy’, although not perfect would be better. ÕS gives plii as a possible acception for tina along with adages like Jalad on tina täis (lit. ‘the legs are full of tin’ which, interestingly enough, is close to British-English ‘my legs feel like lead’), but adds argikeelne: in common parlance. Well, we’re not commonly parlancing here, one of a metals street group, so Tina is Tin. See Vase.
Vati (Vatt)
Being next to Lambi, which could be mistaken for ‘Lamb street’ (it’s not), it might suggest wadding, padding, cotton wool (from French ouate) or, by extension, a short jacket or clothes. But no, false friends: lamp:lambi is a lamp and Vatt:vati is a Watt, so be careful with your abbreviations. 10th of a septenary* selection of sparky streets. See Juhtme.
* Maths joke. Don’t worry, I didn’t even get it myself on proof-reading.
Tornimäe (Tornimägi)
Although it means Tower Hill, there’s neither one nor tother in sight. Apparently named after a certain Adam Tornimäe (or Adam X from Tornimäe in Saaremaa), a worker who rented a property from Jaani Seek, St John’s Almshouse, in the early 17th C, long enough for it to become known as Tornimäe Maja (house). In the 19th C, Tornimäe was also the place to go for autopsies. See Mäe for discussion.
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.
