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TALLINN - TOURIST INFORMATION |
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Tallinn Tourist Information
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Tallinn
"Tallinn (historically known by the German, Swedish and Danish name Reval or the Polish name Rewal, among other names) is the capital and largest city in Estonia. It lies on the northern coast of Estonia on the Gulf of Finland. The city is an important industrial, political and cultural center and seaport.
Etymology
Historical names
The oldest names of Tallinn include Kolyvan (Russian: Колывань) known from Russian historical chronicles, the name deriving from the Estonian mythical hero Kalev.
The Scandinavians and Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called the town Lindanisa: Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish, also mentioned as Ledenets in Old East Slavic. According to some theories the named derived from mythical Linda, the wife of Kalev and the mother of Kalevipoeg. who in an Estonian legend carried rocks to her husband's grave that formed the Toompea hill.
It has been also suggested that in the context the meaning of linda in the archaic Estonian language, that is similar to lidna in Votic, had the same meaning as linna or linn later on meaning a castle or town in English. According to the suggestion nisa would have had the same meaning as niemi (meaning peninsula in English) in an old Finnish form of the name Kesoniemi.
Other than Kesoniemi known ancient historical names of Tallinn in Finnish include Rääveli.
In 1154 a town called Qlwri or Qalaven (also Kalevan or Kolyvan) was put on the world map of the Almoravid by cartographer Muhammad al-Idrisi who described it as a small town like a large castle among the towns of Astlanda. It has been suggested that the Quwri in Astlanda may have noted the name of the city Kolyvan known also from the Russian chronicles that is today called Tallinn in Estonia.
After the Danish conquest in 1219 the town became known in the German, Swedish and Danish languages as Reval (Latin: Revalia). The name originated from (Latin) Revelia (Estonian) Revala or Rävala, the adjacent ancient name of the surrounding Estonian county.
Modern name
The origin of the name "Tallinn(a)" is certain to be Estonian, although the original meaning of the name is debated. It is usually thought to be derived from "Taani-linn(a)" (meaning "Danish-castle/town"; Latin: Castrum Danorum) after the Danes built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold at Lindanisse. However, it could also have come from "tali-linna" ("winter-castle/town"), or "talu-linna" ("house/farmstead-castle/town"). The element -linna, like Germanic -burg and Slavic -grad / -gorod, originally meant "fortress" but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names.
Tallinna replaced the previously used official German name Reval (help·info) (Russian: Ревель) in 1918, when Estonia became independent. In the early 1920s, the official spelling of the city name was changed from Tallinna to Tallinn, making the new name notable since Estonian-language place names always end with a vowel (denoting the genitive case). However, somewhat confusingly to non-Estonian speakers, the word Tallinna still appears in modern Tallinn as the -a suffix can denote the genitive case (thus Tallinna Lennujaam translates literally as Tallinn's Airport)."
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