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Mündi (Peter Friedrich Mundt, 1726(?)-1800)
Tallinn businessman (silks and fabrics) from Rostock, Blackhead (see Jüriöö) and burgomeister, with property on the corner previously occupied by barber-surgeons from 1414 to 1765. First named after him in 1885 as either Mundti or Mündti, then Mundtenstraße in 1907, Estonianized to Mundi on various occasions from 1908 with a stint as Muntenstraße in 1942 following the Third Reich’s February 2nd declaration that German was the official state language in the besetzten Ostgebiete or Occupied Eastern Territories, then back to Mundi until 1954. The lack of initials in the name is odd, and it seems this is an example of Soviet rewriting of history by converting the name of a businessman to that of an object, a coin (münt:mündi, but also mint of the edible variety too). Was it also intended to be the mint itself? A mint in Estonian is müntla (place of coin), rahapaja (money + old suffix for smithy or workshop), or mündikoda (coin chamber or house), but a coin can also be a metonym for a mint and both may be interchangeable, e.g. German Münze for both. Were the 16th-C mündimeistrid masters of coin or masters of the mint? Either way, if the mint were intended, the switch was erroneous because the first(?) Tallinn mint was located not N of Raekoja square but at some unknown location W of Dunkri, Rataskaevu 6 has been suggested, moving to Niguliste 6 sometime between 1346-83. First known as brevis rega iuxta forum, Latin cum MLG for short narrow passageway off the main square (1368), or plain old brevis rega (1373-75, etc.) then Korte reghe bi dem mar(c)kte (1392), MLG for short narrow passageway near the market, and parva platea, little street (1380). It may also have been called (not noted in KNAB, info on Gov. fb page) as Habemeajaja (barber) or Kirurgi (surgeon) after the barber-surgeons living there. For rega see Pikk.
Nunnadetagune torn (0) 
Lit. behind the nuns. The nuns in question being those of the Cistercian convent of St Michael, Püha Miikaeli klooster, which used to be (1249-1629) within the perimeter of Kooli, Aida, Lai, Suur-Kloostri and Gümnaasiumi. In 1543, the year which European historians usually consider the switch point between the Middle-Ages and Rennaissance, its abbot, Elsebe Soye, converted to Lutheranism. In 1631, it was ceded to Tallinn City for use as a school, changing its name since then 15 times, including a 5-day spin in February 1918 as Töörahva Valitsuse Tallinna Poeglaste Gümnaasium, or Tallinn working-people’s government boys’ school, ending up as today’s Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium, one of whose alumni was the short-lived Bengt Gottfried Forselius (±1660-1688), teacher, founder of peasant schools and spelling reformer, then in 1922 its eastern wing went full monty and converted into a Saku beer bottling-plant (see Odra). Sic transit gloria bloody mundi. See next entry Nunnatorn. And can somebody please, ffs, explain why some towers are Xtorn and others X Torn?... Good grief!
Mustamäe (Mustamägi) 
Black hill, black mountain. Although use of the word ‘mountain’ is questionable (see Mäe for discussion). Most capital cities have buildings taller than Estonia’s mountains. Right or wrong, the nominative Mustamägi is sometimes heard. Even saying ‘black’ is questionable too. One of the only Estonian words which gives me a touch of urticaria is this one: must. It means black, but also dirty, and for people, a mustlane is a gypsy (not much better...). Reminds me of scrubland in the Pantanal, Brazil, described by one local as sujo, literally ‘dirty’ but to him meaning untamed, unfarmed, thus representing the dark, perhaps frightening, nature of tropical forest with its wild animals and insects. See Vana-Mustamäe. One of Tallinn’s 8 Districts (Linnaosad). It includes the following Asumid (Sub-districts): Kadaka, Mustamäe, Siili and Sääse. See Nõmme.
