Last modified: 2004-07-31 by dov gutterman
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by Antonio Broto, 31 July 2001
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My knowledge of Estonian is close to nil, but I did do some
checking with a dictionary and with a colleague teaching
political science at the University of Tartu. 'Linn' in Estonian
means 'castle' and also 'city', 'town' (as in Tallinn -City of
the Danes), 'linnad' is plural. 'Vallad' is plural of 'vald',
which as far as I could gather from the dictionary, originally
means parish. From what I was told about Estonian administrative
structure, the 'vallad' are rural municipalities while the
'linnad' are urban municipalities. 'Maakond' means county or
province, 'maakonnad' is plural. IIRC I have seen the term
'district' is used for 'maakon' in vexillological literature,
though 'county' was the translation offered from Tartu today. The
1993 local government act changed the relationship between the
various layers and subdivisions. The counties, maakonad, are no
longer a part of the local government structure, instead they
have been transformed into regional departments of the central
government.
Jan Oscar Engene, 13 June 1997
According to estonian site some linguistic comments. There are
4 sections for estonian state symbols. 1st one (Eesti vabariigi)
is for state symbols . 2nd (Eesti maakonnad) for 1st level
administrative divisions (maakond) . 3rd (Eesti vallad ja alevid)
for 2nd level rural municipalities (valla & alev) . 4th
(Eesti linnad) for cities (linn)
Gvido Petersons, 10 January 1999
Estonia (like in Latvia to