Editing Tallinn (section)

== Names and etymology<span class="anchor" id="Names of Tallinn"></span><span class="anchor" id="Etymology of Tallinn"></span> ==
{{see also|Names of Tallinn in different languages}}
The name Tallinn(a){{IPA|et|ˈtɑi̯l.lɪnː|lang|ET-ee-Tallinn.ogg}} is [[Estonian language|Estonian]]. It has been widely considered a historical derivation of ''Taani-linna'',{{efn|The [[Finnic languages|Finnic]] element ''-linna'', like [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] ''-[[wikt:burg|burg]]'' and [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] ''-[[grad (geography)|grad]]'' /''-gorod'', originally meant "fortress", but has been used as a suffix in the formation of town names. The [[Estonian language|Estonian]] word ''linn'' nowadays means "town" or "city".}} meaning "Danish-castle"{{efn|The Danish heritage is also evident in the city's lesser coat of arms, depicting the [[flag of Denmark]] (''Dannebrog'').}} ({{langx|la|[[Castrum Danorum]]}}), conceivably because the [[Danes (Germanic tribe)|Danish]] invaders built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold after the 1219 battle of Lyndanisse.<!--However, according to minor theories, it could also have come from ''tali-linna'' (winter-castle or town), or ''talu-linna'' (house/farmstead-castle or town).{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}-->

The Icelandic ''[[Njal's saga]]''—composed after 1270, but describing events between 960 and 1020—mentions an event that occurred somewhere in the area of Tallinn and calls the place ''Rafala'' (probably a derivation of ''[[Revala|Rävala]]'', ''Revala'', or some other variant of the Estonian name of the adjacent [[Ancient Estonia|medieval Estonian county]]). Soon after the Danish conquest in 1219, the town became known in the [[Scandinavia]]n and [[German language|German]] languages as ''Reval'' ({{langx|la|Revalia}}). The etymology of Reval and derivatives in Estonian is unclear and theories are numerous.<ref>{{Cite web |title=[KNR] Dictionary of Estonian Place names |url=https://arhiiv.eki.ee/dict/knr/index.cgi?Q=Revala |access-date=2025-04-30 |website=arhiiv.eki.ee}}</ref>

In international use, the English and German-language ''Reval''<ref>{{Audio|Reval.ogg|''Reval''}}; {{IPA|de|ˈʁeːval|lang|De-Reval.ogg}}</ref> as well as the Russian analog ''Revel'' ({{lang|ru|Ревель}}) were all gradually replaced by the Estonian name after the country became independent in 1918. At first, both Estonian forms, ''Tallinna'' and ''Tallinn'', were used.<ref>{{cite book |title=Tallinn in Your Pocket |last=Singer |first=Nat A. |author2=Steve Roman |year=2008 |publisher=In Your Pocket |isbn=978-0-01-406269-0 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PZdt1EnuafsC&pg=PA13 }}</ref><ref>''Tallinna'' in Estonian denotes also the [[genitive case]] of the name, as in ''Tallinna Sadam'' ('the [[Port of Tallinn]]').</ref>

[[File:Danmarks flag 1219 Lorentzen.jpg|thumb|left|The first-ever [[Flag of Denmark|Danish flag]] falling from the sky during the [[Battle of Lyndanisse|Battle of Lindanise (Tallinn)]], 15 June 1219. Painted by [[Christian August Lorentzen|C. A. Lorentzen]] in 1809.]]
[[Henry of Livonia]], in his [[Livonian Chronicle of Henry|chronicle]] ({{Circa|1229}}), called the town with the name that is also known to have been used up to the 13th century by Scandinavians: ''Lindanisa'' (or ''Lyndanisse'' in [[Danish language|Danish]],<ref>{{in lang|da}} In 1219, [[Valdemar II of Denmark]], leading the Danish fleet in connection with the [[Livonian Crusade]], landed by an Estonian town of Lindanisse</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/7/0518.html |title=Salmonsens Konversations Leksikon |publisher=Runeberg.org |date=19 January 2012 |access-date=20 May 2012 |archive-date=10 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151010155311/http://runeberg.org/salmonsen/2/7/0518.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{in lang|de}} Reval's ältester Estnischer Name Lindanisse, Verhandlungen der gelehrten estnischen Gesellschaft zu Dorpat. Band 3, Heft 1. Dorpat 1854, p. 46–47</ref> ''Lindanäs'' in [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and ''Ledenets'' in [[Old East Slavic]]).

In 1154, a town called {{lang|ar|قلون}} (''Qlwn''<ref>Fasman, The Geographer's Library, pp.17</ref> or ''Quwri''<ref name="TUE"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Birnbaum's Eastern Europe |page=431 |last1=Birnbaum |first1=Stephen |author-link=Stephen Birnbaum |last2=Mayes Birnbaum |first2=Alexandra |year=1992 |publisher=Harper Perennial |isbn=978-0-06-278019-5 |url=https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22who+called+the+settlement+Kolyvan%22 |access-date=25 October 2022 |archive-date=25 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221025182016/https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=%22who+called+the+settlement+Kolyvan%22 |url-status=live }}</ref>) was recorded in the description of the world on the [[world map]] (''[[Tabula Rogeriana]]'') commissioned by the [[Normans|Norman]] King [[Roger II of Sicily]] and compiled by [[Arab]] 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 one possible transcription, 'Qlwn', may have denoted a predecessor of the modern city<ref>{{cite book |title=The Geographer's Library |last=Fasman |first=Jon |year=2006 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-14-303662-3 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bE2oerrW_IkC&pg=PA17}}</ref><ref>"A glance at the history and geology of Tallinn" by Jaak Nõlvak. In [http://www.gi.ee/WOGOGOB/wogogob_web.pdf Wogogob 2004: Conference Materials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720125323/http://www.gi.ee/WOGOGOB/wogogob_web.pdf |date=20 July 2011 }}</ref> and may somehow be related to a toponym ''Kolyvan'', which has been discovered from later [[East Slavic languages|East Slavic]] chronicles.<ref>{{cite book |title=Handbook of Russian Literature |last=Terras |first=Victor |year=1990 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-04868-1 |page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VjKh2gkCudAC&pg=PA68 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Esthonian Review |publisher=University of California |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-D9DAAAAIAAJ&q=%22the+old+Russian+name+for+Reval+has+been+retained+(Kolyvan+from+Kalev)%22 |year=1919 }}</ref> However, a number of historians have considered connecting any of al-Idrisi's placenames with modern Tallinn erroneous, unfounded, or speculative.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tarvel |first=Enn |editor-last=Murray |editor-first=Alan |title=The North-Eastern Frontiers of Medieval Europe |publisher=Book Publishers |date=2016 |chapter=Chapter 14: Genesis of the Livonian town in the 13th century |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KgokDwAAQBAJ&q=tallinn+al+idrisi&pg=PT373 |isbn=978-1-409-43680-5}}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Ammas |first=Anneli |date=18 January 2003 |title=Pealinna esmamainimise aeg kahtluse all |url=http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/pealinna-esmamainimise-aeg-kahtluse-all?id=6564560 |work=Eesti Päevaleht |access-date=6 July 2017 |archive-date=18 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201118064600/https://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/pealinna-esmamainimise-aeg-kahtluse-all?id=6564560 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |year=2003 |title=Miks ei usu ajaloolased Tallinna esmamainimisse 1154. aastal? |url=http://www.loodusajakiri.ee/horisont/artikkel103_95.html |magazine=Horisont |access-date=6 July 2017 |archive-date=5 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160405130639/http://www.loodusajakiri.ee/horisont/artikkel103_95.html |url-status=live }}</ref>