Kalamehe (Kalamees)

Fisherman, angler. One of an occupational street-name group. See Meremehe. Kala is derived from the proto Finno-Ugric *kala, fish (see also Karelian, Finnish & Veps kala, Hungarian hal, Sámi guöllé, Nenets, халя, etc.) and related to Uralic (Mansi: хул) and Altaic (Tungusic: kul, salmon; Khalka Mongolian: xalim, whale, presumably of the biblical prophet-swallowing variety, hard to imagine them having a word for it otherwise). Clearly a very old word, although not corroborated by the last example: Christianity was first known in Mongolia in the late 13^th/early 14^th C. Further away again, we have Proto-Eskimo *iqałud, Sumerian kad, and even Somali, kalluun, all also fish. Stepping into very murky waters, along with other basic words such as Uralic *nime giving Estonian nimi, and maybe related to Sanskrit nā́man-, Latin nomen and English name, our PIE *kʷalo-, large fish (cf. Latin squalus, dogfish or ‘large sea fish’), Old Prussian kalis, shad, and Old English hwæl, giving present-day whale suggest possible common origins going back at least 5000 years.

Kalamaja (Kalamaja)

Fisherman’s hut, name of a one-time fishing village, along with the three ages of man: Uus-Kalamaja (new, but let’s say ‘young’ for poetic license), Kesk-Kalamaja (Middle-aged), and Vana-Kalamaja (Old). The word maja, probably first meant a temporary shelter, hut or stopover, as suggested by its neighboring Izhorian, Karelian, Ludian and, to a lesser extent Finnish, Livonian and Votic. Records date back to 1374 and known as Suddenpe in 1421, prob. MLG+Old Est. for “On the marsh/swamp” (südde/sudde = morass or swamp) + pe>pea (see Narva). Note, too the old ‑n genitive.

• Asum (Sub-district)

Vana-Kalamaja (Vana-Kalamaja)

Old Kalamaja. A bit like Uus-Kalamaja but older. In fact, both created in 1885.

• Kalamaja
• Fishing
• Industry