FOTO 1
Familiar brands and possibly a familiar
sääsk (mosquito) seen at an Estonian supermarket stand featuring insect repellents (
putuka/tõrje/vahendid) with the message
Peata pinin! – "Stop the buzz!" The noun
pinin and verb
pinisema are great onomatopoetic words ("Piiii" seems a slightly higher pitch than "buzzzzz", but is ultimately in the ear of the beholder and not subject to debate.) A
pinin noise is usually made by a bug, but a whiny or high-pitched voiced person can also be described as speaking
piniseval toonil. A few years ago there was an annual spring concert in rural Estonia called
Sääse/pirina Alguse Kontsert (a concert marking the beginning of the mosquito buzz season).
FOTO 2
Locally made mosquito repellent (
sääse/tõrje) products by Orto.
Tõrjuma is to fend off, counter, fight, as in
tule/tõrje and
tule/tõrjuja (fire fighter). The spray (
pihusti or "
sprei") on the right is named
sääse/hirm (mosquito's fear) and claims to be
looduslik (natural). A
pihusti (spray) is
pihustatud (sprayed) – ejected as little particles, like the expression "
pihuks ja põrmuks", to destroy into a thousand little pieces. The
jahustav geel (cooling gel) on the left
leevendab (eases) the
sügelus (itch) of
sääse/kupud (aka
hammustused) – bites, and thereby bears the great name
sääse/kupu/leevendi (mosquito bump (bite) soother). Or you could simply pick a
tee/leht (Plantago or plantain) leaf from the roadside, and rub it on the spot which
sügeleb (itches). Kids tend to say: “
See kratsib”, which in fact is not correct, since it means “it scratches”. An itch (
sügelus/sügelemine) begs to be scratched (
kratsmine).
Photos and text: Riina Kindlam, Tallinn
