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Vanaturu kael (0)
Neck of the old market. Only thoroughfare in Tallinn designated by kael. As to whether this was an original designation, I am skeptical, despite a similar use elsewhere (Lemmiku kael on Aegna, see Tulekivi). Other examples such as Võrkla from Wærkæla; Nahkjala > Nakæl; Sinikahja > Sinikaela; etc., suggest a possible genitive suffixed by a ‑la ending (see Hiiela and Ruunaoja). Known as Markthalsgasse, Marktstraße, Marktgasse, etc., in the 19th C, the first of which suggests it as a covered part of a market (could the hal turn into kael?).
Vana-Veerenni (Vana-Veerenn)
Old Channel. Between this and Liivalaia, close to the present-day Sõprus Cinema, was one of Tallinn’s earlier outdoor entertainment parks, the Kivivõllaste paik (lit. place of the stone-built gallows) aka Hukkamispaik (execution square) where guests were hung, drawn, gouached and quartered then their heads and other body parts impaled and displayed in the Timukaaed (hangman’s garden) to encourage a belated sense of civic behavior. During the course of its history, Tallinn has had a variety of places of execution. Raekoja Plats and Toompea (which may have been called Jeruusalemma Mägi [Mount Jerusalem] but where?) and may have been among the earliest, along with another (until 16th C?) in front of Viru Värav (executions inside the city were prohibited by 17-18th C). The main one, however, identified as Võllamägi (gallows hill), was built here at the turn of the 14/15th C, some 50-odd m S of Liivalaia. Archaeology has confirmed the remains of the above-mentioned ‘stone-built gallows’ to be located beneath Swedbank at approx. ///delivers.dogs.organs. But the Karte der Gouvernements-Stadt Reval of 1876 shows a Galgen Berg (also gallows hill) some 600 m further south approximately within the Vana-Lõuna / Pille triangle, also apparently known as Jeruusalemma Mägi or Kolgata (Golgotha). They both seem to share the same dates (14-17th C), and some kind of overlap is suspected, perhaps more for exhibition / warning purposes closer to town and disposal of decaying corpses further away. With topics like this, prurient and anecdotal information abounds. Add salt.
Terase (Teras)
Steel; figuratively, a knife. One of a metals street group. See Tina. Earliest records (1880) give a muddled bundle of German, Russian and Estonian names Tschortowstraße, Чортова / Чертова (Chortova / Chertova) and Tšortovi / Tschortovi, which all seem to indicate “devil’s street”, but was probably a misspelling of the name of an inn that had been there since the 18th C. Either way, street renamed in 1880 as Большая Епинатьевская ул. (Great Epinatiev street) after Russian businessman Алексей Дмитриевич Епинатьев, Alexei Dimitrivitch Epinatiev (1819-1878), founder of Gusli (a couple of hundred meters away as the balalaika sounds [so probably not heavy metal then], see Narva); family made hereditary honorary citizens for services to cultural education in 1872.
Telliskivi (Telliskivi)
Brick, tile. See also Kivi. Named after brick factory founded in 1879 by Johann Grabby (probably located at what is now Mulla 2 or 4) hence its other former name of Grabbysche Straße (±1884). See Kopli and Pelgulinna asum.
