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Vaestepatuste (Vaestepatused [pl.])
Poor or Miserable sinners. Sing. Vaestepatune. Usually spelled and declined separately as Vaeste patuste (gen. pl.) from Vaene patune (nom. sing.). Most of the entry should be under its present-day name of Hariduse. Bizarre. Whatever, one of its former variants was Zechi tänav (1873?, 1885), after local saddler Aleksander Ferdinand Zech, which gradually evolved over the years through Tsehhi (1908), Zehi (1910) or Tsehi (1910) to Tschechi (-1923) which most sane people would understand as ‘Czech’, all the more so since the latter spelling seems clearly to be an attempt at Estonianizing the Czech ‘cz’ / če sound, rendered in today’s Estonian by ‘tš’, as in tšehh:tšehhi. Further, the accent on Estonian letters representing non-Latin alphabet sounds, č, š, ž, i.e. the caron, háček or upside-down circumflex (no relation to Jaroslav Hašek, author of the brilliant Good Soldier Švejk), is said to have been invented by Jan Hus (obviously, before – with the integrity typical of the Roman Catholic Church – he was burned on the stake for heresy while under safe conduct at the Council of Constance) in the very early 15th C, so there is a definite relationship to the Czech language somewhere. But, and were things so simple, the street was named after Zech’s workshop, and workshop in Estonian is tsehh:tsehhi. EES does not provide an etymology of tsehh. I give up (but suspect this may well indeed be the origin).
Vana Tooma (Vana Toomas)
Old Thomas. Named after the character on the weather-vane atop the Raekoda (City Hall) spire. Toomas has stood there since 1530 at least. Damaged by the March 1944 bombing, a replacement was made in 1952 (or was it 1954?), and a new copy (the present one) in 1996. Legend has it (and by now you probably know I hate that word) that the character modeled was a city guard who <insert heart-warming story here> watches over his city to this day. Soviet occupation renaming (1963-1987) of Dunkri, although what political message they were sending out is not sure. Vana Toomas remains a popular symbol of Tallinn. For some, its spirit.
Vaprate (Vaprad [pl.])
Brave/Gallant/Valiant lads/men, etc. After the 3 Communists and one farmer upon whose land a shoot-out with the police occurred on the night of 1924-12-4/5, shortly after the failed coup d’état (see Vakmanni R.). Street and memory subsumed under present-day Vabaõhukooli.
