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Kiire (Kiire)
Ray, as in sun or light. Street now suffering from severe personality disorder. Actually, two distinct streets, sorta, on either side of the railway running alongside Tehnika to Balti Jaam. During the Soviet occupation, Väike-Ameerika (E of tracks) was renamed Kiire (1950-1991) and the existing Kiire was renamed Väike-Kiire (1950-1996). Later (1990), the then Kiire tn from the railway to Tulika along with Kiire põik (W of tracks) were renamed Kotkapoja, and Kiire tn from Tehnika (next to the railway) to Pärnu switched back to Väike-Ameerika) while in 1996 (see Bremeni käik) Väike-Kiire reverted to its original Kiire.
Kiini (Kiin):
1) Billhook or heavy chopping-knife, apparently from Latvian šķīnis (possibly related to Proto-Germanic *skintha-, ‘to flay, skin’ [cf. German schinden]), used for assarting purposes (see neighbors Aedvere, etc.). 2 (probably origin) Bot-, Gad- or Warble-fly, divided into three families: nahakiinlased, ‘skin bot flies’, Hypodermatinae; maokiinlased, ‘stomach bot flies’, Gasterophilinae; and ninakiinlased, ‘nose bot flies’, Oestrinae. The latter are the bugger. Depending on species, the female may eject (dare we say ‘ping’?) larvae into the host’s nasal cavities whence they burrow into the body, develop and grow, then escape throught the skin to pupate in the soil, causing extreme pain and discomfort both inwards and out. An arms race has evolved with reindeer burying their muzzle in the snow, vegetation or water when they hear the sound, and the fly learning stealth strategies. Interestingly, where kiinijooks is a stampede of reindeer on hearing the buzz of the botfly, causing a stampede can be kiili jooksma (see Kiili above), reflecting the underlying uncertainty as to the term’s etymology, whether from Lithuanian gylys for needle, thorn, prick, sting, gadfly or botfly, or from MLG kīlen, to run quickly. Kinni jooksma, on the other hand, refers to when your brain goes dead. So much change in such a tiny soundlet. As an aside, while most people associate prehistoric art with cave paintings of mammoths, aurochs and horses, another recurrent subject seems to be the bot fly larva, with numerous engravings on bones and antlers as well as an exquisite carving in jet from the Hohlenstein Stadel caves in Germany, home to the famous Löwenmensch (lion-human, open question as to gender) and ‘Venus of Hohle Fels’ sculptures dating back to maybe 40K BP. Although ‘bot art’ is younger, perhaps 27K BP, and, to modern man, repugnant, to reindeer herders (and especially skinners, hence question at start of entry) the larva is a tasty, juicy, fat and salty perk of the job...
Kiili (Kiil)
Dragonfly. The larvae are unique in the insect world for using jet-propulsion, ejecting water from the anus to achieve speeds of up to 10 cm per second. Doesn’t work: I tried it in the swimming-pool and they asked me to leave… Part of a small groups of insects, placed appetizingly next to a horde of insectivorous rodents and birds... See also Kuklase.
Pikksilma (Pikksilm)
Lit. Long eye. Telescope. Street planned in 2011, along with Kiikri, renaming (and extending?) the northern part of Bensiini. New development in Kadriorg where a ship was dug up during construction, about 200 m from the current shore. See Liiva or Paljassaare for information on Estonia’s and Tallinn’s slow rise from the sea. Possibly sunk due to fire, the ship was renamed Peeter after the excavator operator, and, built no earlier than 1296, probably sunk around 1320-1330. Interesting to note that this ship used moss as caulking. See also Tuukri, where a similar find was made next to this.
