Kotermaa (Kotermaa)

After a former farm of obscure naming ancestry. Kotermaa was sometimes confused with Kodasema, perhaps derived from the words koda- or koduasema (home, house, chamber, building, suveköök (summer kitchen: apparently a separate building designed for fire-prevention purposes?) + ase:aseme, secondary manor, (see Sambla), possibly related to a former farm estate Kotipere. Similar placenames exhibit extensive variation over time – Codasme, Kodasema, Kodasme, Koddaassem, Koddasim, Koddasma, Koddaszem, Koddess, Koddoassmo, Kodossme, Kottesme and Kottafam (where the f might have been ſ, a long s, hence Kottasam, i.e., in 1586, ‘two farms’ (‘2nd farm’, the ‘other farm’?) – so your guess is as good as mine. Given its military neighbors, Moonalao and Tagala, it would be nice for it to be related to kotermann, ship’s hobgoblin, or influenced by the (tricky) verb koterdama (related to komberdama [hobble or stumble], kaperdama [go about unsteadily] (caper, anyone?...), koberdama [plod]), meaning not only to shuffle along but also to loaf about, almost the defining stereotype of anyone in charge of military stores.