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Kunderi J.
(Juhan Kunder, 1852-1888)
Writer known mainly for folk tales or fairy tales, e.g. Eesti Muinasjutud (usually translated as Estonian Fairytales). Occasional firefighter who died of typhus (probably unrelated).
Madli (Madli/Madel/Madle/etc.)
Name chosen to create a woman’s name group. This one, like Maud in English, being a diminutive of Magdaleena, qv, and I’m sure the fact that Tallinn Deputy Mayor’s first name is Madle has absolutely nothing to do with this. Yet another example of spelling variations, with over 60 examples ranging through Leen, Liena, Maada, Malline, Meedy and even Mallis, a squishing together of Magdalena and Elisabeth.
Meeta (Meeta/Meta)
Name chosen to create a woman’s name group, this one being a diminutive of Margareta. Margaret of Antioch would have been a good candidate, one of the Catholic church’s ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’ called upon to prevent diseases. This lady, the medieval equivalent of an antivax influencer, offered bargain indulgences to those who ‘liked’ her book… Eaten by dragon. Probably fictitious, certainly mythological. But no, just a name… “Just a name!...” Following the Greco-Persian Wars (499-449 BC), Greece adopted a variety of Persian vocabulary, including μαργαριτάρι (margaritari), meaning ‘pearl’, but the Persian murwārīd came ultimately from Old Iranian *mrgāhrīta, “derived from a [bird’s] shell”, in other words: oyster. Oddly, French Marguérite, which switched to daisy in the 13-14th C, is thought to derive from Sanskrit manjari ‘pearl’ or ‘flowering bead’ (reflecting the flower’s rounded central yellow disk floret, the color of which gave the name ‘margarine’) while its ‘casting pearls before swine’ retains its earlier ‘pearl’ acception in “jeter des marguerites aux pourceaux”. Meeta is also the diminutive of Mathilda, another myxomatotic rabbit-hole away from which I shall gladly waltz. See Madli.
Taani Kuninga (Taani Kuningas)
King of Denmark. The king in question being Valdemar II, or Valdemar the Victorious (1202-1241) who, the papers say, founded Tallinn. He didn’t, but he did get a garden.
