Täi (Täi)

Louse, but often used for flea, etc. Various locations, see also Viru väljak. There used to be a flea market on the corner of Uus and Väike Rannavärav, south of the Katkenud liin (the broken line) monument commemorating the Estonia Ferry disaster of 1994. It was also known as Trödelmarkt, junk/jumble market in 1913, indicated as still there on the Tallinna Linna Plaan 1922 (Tallinn street map) then moved to the location of the current bus terminal between Juhkentali, Odra and Lastekodu, mutating into Vanakraamiturg (lit. old stuff / junk market) until 1939, temporarily Uus Turg, new market (1939), then gracefully segueing into Laadaplats (fairground, 1939-60).

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Silikaltsiidi (Silikaltsiit)

Silicalcite, aka silicate concrete, a building-material more commonly known as Laprex, invented and manufactured by Johannes Hint (brother of Aadu Hint, see Vesse), perhaps the only businessman under Soviet occupation to form a joint-venture with the outside world (Austria). Hint was arrested under trumped-up charges in 1981 and sentenced to 15 years. He died of heart attack in Patarei prison (see Suur-Patarei) in 1985. Street home to Silikaat AS, Estonia’s oldest(?) sand and silicate product producers. Part of a sand and concrete materials group, see Kukermiidi.

Patriarh Aleksius II (Alexey Mikhailovich Ridiger, 1929-2008)

Patriarch Alexy II, real name Алексе́й Миха́йлович Ри́дигер. Born in Estonia, altar boy in Alexander Nevsky Cathedral (1946), studied at Leningrad Theological Seminary then Academy from 1947-1953, patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church from 1990 till his death. His square is in front of the Church of the ‘Quick to Hear’ Icon of the Mother of God. Just in case you thought you could quietly move onto the next entry, Estonian has another quirk: while the genitive of Arabic ordinals requires a period, e.g. 2. for teise, of the 2nd (cf. 1. liin, etc.), the genitive of Roman ordinals (and despite the late present being more of a Russian Cardinal), e.g. II for teise, doesn’t, which explains that sub-psychological tremor you didn’t consciously feel (and will barely recall tomorrow morning after your repugnant nightmares tonight). But this is language. As an aside, there are not enough stars in the sky to count the infinite variety of sounds pronouced by our trivial trillion trilling tongues.

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