Home
Aia (Aed)
Fence, enclosure, garden, run. However, as in English where ‘garden’ originally meant that which enclosed it, as in, for example, Latin: hortus gardinus, ‘enclosed garden’, deriving from Proto Indo-European (PIE) *gher- ‘to grasp, to enclose’ (cf. Old English geard ‘enclosure, garden, house’, etc.) ultimately giving rise to Old Church Slavonic gradu1, ‘town, city’ and Russian город (gorod), град (-grad), English girdle and yard, and related to PIE *gherdh- ‘staff, pole’. The same seems to apply in Estonian where the aed originally meant an enclosure made of pickets (cf. Finnish aita, fence). Only Tallinn street name a palindrome in the genitive, but not the nominative. Rare in existing in 3 varieties. For details, see, in reverse alphabetical order: Aia [tänav], Aia [tee] and Aia [käik].
1) Given the complications of displaying ‘exotic’ scripts online, here Glagolitic, see, and ideally buy, A Rambling Dictionary of Tallinn Street Names (all author earnings from the book go to the Tallinna Lastehaigla Toetusfond (Tallinn Children’s Hospital Foundation, set up to aid purchase medical equipment), allowing you to contemplate, with wonder I hope, one of humanity's multiple endeavors at reproducing the infinite subtleties of speech in a pathetic 20-odd alphabet.
Ahvena (Ahven)
Perch, European perch, Perca fluviatilis. At various stages of Tallinn’s past, new or developing neighborhoods were given names revolving around a theme. This one – on the Kakumäe peninsula, site of former fish processing and refrigeration plants – is part of a fish group, see Havi, interspersed among a fishing-tackle group, see Abara.
Ahtri (Ahter)
1) Stern, poop; 2) By extension (no pun intended): buttocks, (often) ladies’, (usually) generous. Term borrowed from Low Saxon and Swedish seafarers, and related to ‘aft’ and ‘after’, as well as ‘off’ and ‘ebb’. Known until 1958 as Simeoni, Siimeoni, Siimoni or Simuna after its Saints Simon and Anna orthodox church (built 1752-1871), now known as Püha Siimeoni ja naisprohvet Hanna kirik (Saint Simeon’s and Prophetess Anna’s church (see Paadi). Part of the E67 from Helsinki to Prague, see also Reidi.
Aegna asum (Aegna) 
Street in Priisle and Island/Sub-district off the coast of Tallinn. Known as Wulf or Wulfö to the Germans, Аэгна or Вульфъ to the Russians (transliterating into Aegna or Vulf, see note on Russian spelling in intro), and Ulffö (unusual with two f’s) to the Swedes. Thus known as far back as 13th C: Wolvesöö (1348), Wolffz Öön (1698), Wulli saar (1724), etc., but mutating to Eikisari (1683) with corresponding switch from wolf to horse, eik being a dialect Swedish (western coastal Estonian) word for horse, cognate with and probably derived from Latin equus, and how it got from one to the other is curious to say the least... Perhaps influenced by other coastal mainland Swedish and Finnish Swedish dialects where the word ranged through heik, ek, ök and ög to öj, could there have been a mishearing / misunderstanding with Swedish ö, island, due to various indigenous and migrant speakers pronouncing it differently? Or simply preferring the more welcoming appellation of horse over wolf? Either way, the name took off, thru Äigna (17th C) Agnasaar (1724) and thence to its present name. Aegna is considered part of Tallinn, but be careful when crossing the road. Part of an Estonian island group, see Kihnu.