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Asso õu (Ats)
Asso courtyard, aka Karjase hoov (herder’s yard). Alternative to or, more likely, reconstructed spelling (see Kassi) of Assauwe, Ats, a name recorded as far back as Henry of Latvia’s Livonian Chronicle, is/was also an abbreviation for various names including Adam, Adolf and even Hans, etc. Previously unnamed, it was attributed during a 1996 post-independence blitz (see Bremeni käik). The courtyard is located behind the Teatri- ja Muusikamuuseum (Estonian Theatre and Music Museum).
Hansu (Hans)
Uncertain. TAAK gives it as the name of a former farm (which does seem to be the case), but not listed as such in KNAB. According to Hamilton’s 3rd Law of Odonymy (see Aedvere) and the street’s year of naming (2004), it could (should?) be named after Käsu Hans (?-1715/1734), one of the earlier poets in the Estonian vernacular and writer of the first surviving poem (1708) by an Estonian in Estonian (Tartu dialect). Cast in the middle of the Great Northern War, Oh! ma waene Tardo liin (Oh! Poor Tartu town I am), the town speaks for itself and tells its tale of woe. Interestingly, despite Tartu being then more commonly known by its Germanized name of Dorpat, Hans uses Tardo/Tarto (according to print version[?]), derived from its original Estonian name of Tarbatu. Estonian ‘t’s and ‘d’s are often interchangeable, see Hospidali.
Kadri (Kadri)
Street in Kadrioru park. Probably a diminutive of the honorable Tsarina, Catherine I of Russia, although Estonia used to have (still has?) an old tradition of Kadriks käima (‘Katieing’ or ‘Catterning’): on Nov. 24th, St Catherine’s day (see Katariina), ‘kadrisants’ (mainly young women, but some reports say men too, although they had their similar day on the feast of St Martin’s) dressed up in masks and light-colored women’s clothing go from door to door asking gifts (food, wool, etc.) in exchange for songs and good wishes, although it may be a hotchpotch including references to Queen Catherine of Aragon, reputed to have introduced or saved the lace-making industry. But that’s the schtick with religion: hijack any vaguely recollected story and palm it off to your rubes.
