Dunkri

(Hans Dunker, 16^th C)

Although Dunker is an old Germanic name for someone who lived near a swamp – historically, pretty much applicable to anyone in Estonia – it seems this was a 16^th‑C merchant, originally from Lübeck, prime city of the Hanseatic League, as well as Tafelbruder (see Eppingi torn) and/or alderman. Having been the street’s name for the past 400-odd years, it has inevitably been wrangled into cosier interpretations: Drunckerstraße (1528), possibly, but not 100% sure, ‘drunkard’s street’, the word was sometimes used for ‘drunk’ at about that time, along with drunkener (1400-50), drunkerner (1501) and drunck (±1600); then Dunkelstraße or Темная ул. (Temnaya), dark street (1701, etc.), and whatever the Estonian frontal cortex believed Tunkle ulits (1732) to be. Renamed during the Soviet occupation as Vilde E. (1950-1963) then Vana Tooma (1963-1987). Prior to all this, things get a bit muddled, causing many a sleepless night... Its earliest date (1378) is given by Kivi who says it was known as platea qua itur ad sanctum Nicolaum in opposito putei, or road which goes to Saint Nicholas’, passing by the well (möödudes kaevust) but this looks like a mistake. The main source material here is Nottbeck III II, and my take on this, and I could be wrong, is that Nottbeck was describing the location of a property “opposite the well on the road to Saint Nicholas’”, a point he emphasizes by his comment in the appendix, vielleicht derselbe (perhaps the same one), presumably the Rataskaev well. In which case the platea would refer to Rataskaevu, not Dunkri. In 1439, it was recorded as klene strate bi den sc(h)oboden, alse men geit na deme sternssode, little street near the shoe-shops (for more on these, see Raekoja plats) by which you go to the sternssode, and in 1443 as (lutke) strate achter der munte, (little) street behind the mint, logical since by then the mint was at Niguliste 6, stretching north to abut onto Dunkri. However, in the 2^nd half of the 15^th C, the name started shifting again, and now it seems definitely along the lines of Sternestrate achter munte (1463), sternestrate (1469 & 1489), and strate achter der munte (1478), all variations of sterne street behind the mint, the sterne coming from the name of the well in Rataskaevu.

Dunteni

(Jobst Dunte)

Unofficial name of Tondimõisa. Park on SW end of Tondi presumably attempting to rectify the terrors of Tallinn orthography upon its misbegotten owner. As to which Jobst Dunte, see Tondi.

Duveli torn (0)

Devil’s Tower. MLG version of Kuradi torn.

Düvelsmoderi torn (0)

Devil’s Mother’s Tower. MLG version of Kuradiema torn, see Kuradi torn.

Edela (Edel)

South-west, south-western, south-westerly. Also süüdvest among sailors. Estonian is one of those rare languages which still has actual names for ordinal, or intercardinal, directions (NE, SE, SW & NW). Note that Estonian edel = Finnish lounas, and Est. lõuna = Fi. etelä (see table below), and that both Est. & Fi. ‘north’ are cognate with a sense of beneathness (Est. merepõhi, for example, means sea floor) as is also Old Norse norðr, poss. derived from PIE *ner-, left or below, since that’s where it is when facing the rising sun, and cognate with Sanskrit nārakaḥ, नारक, Eng. beneath and nether, and Gk νέρτερος (nerteros), under, deeper, the nether world, the dead. Similarly, west, vestr, etc., comes from a PIE root suggesting behindness, where the sun would be if you face east(ish), while Lithuanian vakar, yesterday, vakaras, evening, and vakarai, west, are all related to Latin vesper and the Greek Hesperides, the nymphs of evening and sunsets, strongly suggesting our IE ancestors’ key direction was east. For more on the oddities of Nordic compass points, see Loode. The interrelation of compass points between various Finnic languages is, shall we say, complicated... See below, for example Liv. idā does not map onto its Est. cognate ida, but kirre, South has 3 conflicting etymons, and Liv. lēņtš ≠ Est. lääs, but edel... And while Ida (east), is equivalent to ON austr – cognate with Lith. aušra, dawn, daybreak, Greek αυγή (auge), sunlight, dawn, and even Vedic Sanskrit uṣā́s, dawn – and related to shining, gold, aurora and rosy-fingered dawn, it later gives us austral, or southern, while the Sami for east is nuorti, probably a loan-word, but suggesting a rotational effect perhaps related to latitude. I think that’s quite enough...

The street used to be in the docks, now in Kivimäe, and pointing – Tallinn toponymie oblige – south-east... See Vesikaare. Interestingly, switches such as these are not restricted to Finnic languages. The Hebrew for winter, חורף (xōref), is cognate with the Arabic for autumn, خريف (xarīf), while the Arabic for winter, شتاء (šitāʾ), is cognate with the Hebrew for autumn, סתיו (stav), which also used to mean winter, but changed at one point.