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Lühike jalg (Adj.)
Lit. Short leg/foot. One of the older streets of Tallinn: brevis mons (short hill, 1353), parvus mons (small hill, 1371), descensus montis ad mare (descent from the hill to the sea, undated) making you wonder what the sea level was at that time (see Paljassaare), korter berg (short hill, 1428), lühhike jalg (1732), before settling into its present name in 1908. See Pikk Jalg. The translation of jalg is worrisome: usually ‘leg’, which is one of its various acceptions, along with ‘foot’, and others I’m sure. But a ‘leg’ is usually a stage in something, a journey or a race, while ‘foot’ commonly applies to hills and mountains, as it does here. Since jalg is so obviously related to jalutama (to walk), perhaps, given the slope, it was used to emphasize the difficulty in going up by carriage or cart, and while ‘Short Foot’ may be correct-ish in its literal translation, I feel that ‘Short Rise’ better expresses its functional quality. But not its charming ‘olde-worlde’-ness. Anyhoo, given its two odd ‘legs’, Tallinn is sometimes jokingly referred to as lonkav linn (totter town or lit. limping town). See also Lühike tänav in Hiiu. Interestingly, lühike is the diminutive of lühi:lühida the nominative of which is only found in compound words, and can also be a double diminutive as lühikene.
Lõosilma (Lõosilm)
Forget-me-not, Myosotis spp. The origin of the name dates back to round about 4000 BCE when the First Couple were requested to leave the Botanical Gardens for making fashion statements with vegan nitwear. At the gate, a little flower is reputed to have cried out ‘Forget me not’, although nobody really knows quite why. One of a meadow flower or grass group. See Mailase.
