Estonia

name

Etymology: Borrowed from Medieval Latin Estonia. Other early Latin forms were Estia and Hestia, possibly derived from the tribal name Aestiī described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania (ca. 98 AD). Displaced Middle English Ēstland, from Old English Ēstland. Compare also Old Norse Æistland, Icelandic Eistland, German Estland (“Estonia”).

1. A country in northeastern Europe, on the southeastern coast of the Baltic Sea. Official name: Republic of Estonia.

   ““In the late 1930s, the Western democracies hesitated in the face of danger,” Prime Minister Siim Kallas of Estonia, a former Soviet republic, told me. “As a consequence, we fell under dictatorships and many people lost their lives. Action is sometimes necessary.””

   “While there is less income inequality in Estonia than in the United States—and, with 1.3 million people, the country is significantly smaller—the Baltic nation also has its share of cultural diversity.”