Home
Kuldtiiva (Kuldtiib)
Literally a Goldwing, but they’re probably not referring to armchairs on wheels, but butterflies of the blue or copper varieties. valgetäpp-kuldtiib, small or common copper, Lycaena phlaeas, and leek-kuldtiib, the scarce copper (despite rumors that they’re never around when you need ’em, both species are quite common in Estonia), Heodes virgaureae. Part of a lepidopteran group. See also Leediku.
Varese (Vares)
Crow. Two species breeding in Estonia: künnivares, rook, Corvus frugilegus and plain old vares, hooded crow, C. corone. Estonian crows must be the worst weather-forecasters ever… Vares sadu vara laulab, hüva ilma hildasella (crow sings morning, rainfall warning; crow sings after, sun and laughter); or Kui vares soiub, tuleb vihma (If the crow caws, it pours) but Kui vares soiub, sula alla (if the crow caws, it thaws). Part of the Lilleküla bird-name group of streets. See also Vesipapi.
Püü (Püü)
Ptarmigan. Two species – Laanepüü, hazel grouse, Bonasa bonasia and rabapüü, willow ptarmigan, Lagopus lagopus – breed in Estonia. The ‘t’ of ptarmigan is wrong. The name comes from Scottish Gaelic tàrmachan, of unknown origin, and the initial pt- from the mistaken belief in a Greek origin to do with wings (ptero, wing). But no. As to its actual etymology, there is little clear evidence. Wikipedia gives 't̪ʰaɾaməxan, for ‘croaker’ referring to the bird’s call, but I find no source. Alexander MacBain’s Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language of 1896, concentrating on Scot. Gael., sheds some interesting light. For example, the dunlin (Calidris alpina) in Scot. Gael. is pollairean, meaning ‘bird of the mud pits’, where ean (and variants) means ‘bird’ and poll ‘mud’ or ‘mud pits’. So we know – as with fireun (eagle), from fior + eun (true bird) or giodhran (barnacle goose from gèadh + an (goose bird) – that the -ean, -eum, -an ending means bird. So far so good. My suggestion is that the name could derive from a combination of terms reflecting its size and habitat indicating something akin to ‘(big-)bellied bird of the plains’, from tàrr (lower belly) + magh (plain, field) + an. Could be (grossly) wrong so don’t quote me! Part of the Lilleküla bird-name group of streets. See also Ronga.
