Abbreviations of administrative units

The KNAB database will use abbreviations to denote the administrative units.

1. The names of counties are abbreviated using two uppercase characters:
   • HR = Harjumaa
   • HI = Hiiumaa
   • IV = Ida-Virumaa
   • JG = Jõgevamaa
   • JÄ = Järvamaa
   • LÄ= Läänemaa
   • LV = Lääne-Virumaa
   • PÕ = Põlvamaa
   • PÄ = Pärnumaa
   • RP = Raplamaa
   • SA = Saaremaa
   • TA = Tartumaa
   • VA = Valgamaa
   • VD = Viljandimaa
   • VÕ = Võrumaa
   • RU = areas under the jurisdiction of Russia (Setumaa and the Trans-Narva strip)
2. The abbreviations of towns and parishes consist of three letters, e.g. Jõe = Jõelähtme, Noa = Noarootsi. The traditional abbreviations of church parishes (used in Estonian linguistics, ethnography, etc.) have not been changed, these are also used for the civil parishes with the same name (no confusion will arise from that as they constitute separate fields). Other abbreviations have been designed specifically for KNAB database, to avoid as much as possible ambiguities. Town name abbreviations are usually "more consonantic" than those of the appropriate rural unit names, cf. Tar = Tartu parish, Trt = city of Tartu. The complete listing of administrative units is given in a table (in .pdf-format), some of the most frequent (mainly town name abbreviations) are as follows:
   • Evl = Elva (town)
   • Hps = Haapsalu
   • Jhv = Jõhvi (town)
   • Kel = Keila (town)
   • KJv = Kohtla-Järve
   • Krs = Kuressaare
   • Kdl = Kärdla
   • Nrv = Narva
   • Pde = Paide
   • Pts = Petseri (town)
   • Pml = Põltsamaa (town)
   • Pva = Põlva (town)
   • Prn = Pärnu
   • Rkv = Rakvere
   • Rpl = Rapla (town)
   • Tln = Tallinn
   • Trt = Tartu
   • Trl = Türi (town)
   • Vlg = Valga
   • Vjd = Viljandi (town)
   • Vru = Võru (town)

Note. Church parishes (Estonian, kihelkond) are historical territorial units that were in wide use until the 1920's; even nowadays most people would recognize what parish they might belong to. The division into parishes is used in linguistics (to delimit sub-dialects), in ethnography, etc. The limits of the parishes are given as they were in appr. 1918 (see parish map based on materials from Regio). For features within historical cities (Tallinn, Haapsalu, Kuressaare, Narva, Paide, Pärnu, Rakvere, Tartu, Valga, Viljandi, Võru), also Elva and Kohtla-Järve modern limits of these units have been taken as the basis in the parish data field, those abbreviations are given in brackets.

Several cities are subdivided into smaller territorial units in the database: city districts, quarters, etc. In the case of Kohtla-Järve, Pärnu, Tallinn and Tartu these divisions are official, in other cases (Elva, Haapsalu, Kehra, Kiviõli, Kuressaare, Maardu, Narva, Otepää, Põlva, Rakvere, Rapla, Räpina, Valga, Viljandi, Võru) they are unofficial, in popular usage only, and adapted for the KNAB database. Abbreviations consist of usually two uppercase characters, given in the "minor area" data field. See the list of abbreviations.