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Piiskopi (Piiskop)
Bishop. First known as Douglasstraße or Douglasberg then variations on Duglase, Tuglase, Дугласская after the infamous Swedish mercenary Count Gustaf Otto Douglas (1687-1771), Governor of Estonia (1738-1740) and responsible for extensive burning and brutality in Finland during the Great Northern War. Renamed (1948-1989) as Kallaku during the Soviet occupation.
Rahukohtu (Rahukohus)
Court. Lit. court of peace. Renamed Rahvakohtu, people’s court, by the Soviets (1950-1989), the point of which remains a mystery. Said to be (i.e. it may not be) the narrowest street in Tallinn.
Mere (Meri)
Sea, ocean. Some linguists have suggested that mere could be a loan word belonging to speakers of a pre-Finno-Ugric and pre-Indo-European language of the Kunda Culture, hunter-gatherers of the period 8000-5000 BCE. Others, less, say, ‘adventurous’, consider the possibility of an old western-Germanic loan, *mari, from PIE *mori-, sea, also giving Latin mare, Russian море (more), Lithuanian mares, and all the way to the French region of Armorique from Gaulish Aremorici, dwellers near the sea. Mere seems to be the street’s oldest name (Ger. See-Promenade and Rus Морской бульваръ [Morskoy boulevard], 1884) but also, in whole or in part merged with Estonia, Lehmpforten (cattle-gate), 1907; Viruvärava (Viru gate), 1908; and Strandpforten or (Väike-)Rannavärava ([Lesser]coastal gate), 1913. This street is part of the E67 from Helsinki to Prague.
