In the Estonian language the word "lill" means
"flower" in English. The word "kene" means "little". But "kena" is "little" is its genetive (possesive case). However, this is not to be confused with the word "kena", which has several meanings including: nice, lovely, kind, pretty, handsome, trim, and so on. With that explanation, I will conclude that "lillekene" means "little flower", and the word "lillekena" is a word I think I made up. In the Estonian language the word
"lisa" means extra, additional, addendum, or supplement. Additionally ;), "lisama" means to add, to tag on,
to supplement. No doubt this is very fascinating to me seeing as "Lisa" is my American given name, but as a side note, Liis, Liisa, Liisi, Liiso and Liisu are all familiar female
first names in Estonia.
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| LISA! |
In addition to the weekly emails, Mom & Dad wrote real
letters and sent them in the real mail EVERY week! I thought my love for
real mail reached its peak in about the fifth grade when I had 8 pen pals at the
same time, from all over the United States, but the letters received in, and
sent from, Estonia only led me to ever appreciate the charm enveloped in the
eesti posti (Estonian Postal Service), and caused my fascination, and love, for
"real mail" to grow.
After seeing those sale signs at the mall, I fancied to
write a letter-head on the weekly real mail I sent the family, in response to
their letters from home. Next to a pretty, little flower doodle at the
top of the page, near the date, I would write: "lillekena lisa: The
Little Flower's 'Extra!'" As their favorite (and only) daughter,
it was implied that I was "The Little Flower" and the 'Extra!' was
naturally "privileged news," and news indeed, for the reader, and as
such, implied a need for newsies in the late 1800s to shout, "Extra!
Extra! Read all about it!" regardless of the silly or serious nature of my
8-to-12-day-delayed "breaking news."
Well, that was over 7 years ago.
An Estonian would never make sense out of what to him or her would translate into, "flower nice extra". But the question I have been wondering since is this: Can
"lillekena lisa" mean what I [the American trying to learn to speak Estonian] wanted it to mean then, and can I use
the phrase to become what I would like it to become now, without worrying about if
it actually makes sense in Estonian? Let the wondering drift away
like big clouds in a massive summer Estonian blue sky...
And let lillekenaLisa begin! I need to call it
something, so I think I will name it "lillekenaLisa". We
might do some catching up here and there, but something big is
happening. Stay tuned to "Read all about it!"
