Reigilaid (Orjaku)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Reigilaid (lit. 'Reigi Islet', also spelled Reigi laid, also known as Reigi saar 'Reigi Island' or Reigi poolsaar 'Reigi Peninsula') is a former small islet in the Baltic Sea in Orjaku, Estonia.
Reigilaid lies at the northwest end of Kassari island, in Jausa Bay.[1] It is now a peninsula of the island of Hiiumaa. Reigilaid has an area of 0.30 square kilometers (0.12 sq mi) to 0.36 square kilometers (0.14 sq mi), depending on the measurement,[1] and it has an oblong northwest–southeast orientation. It lies 5 meters (16 ft) above sea level.
Name
The name Reigilaid is a compound, in which the second element, -laid, means 'islet'. Among various theories, the most common is that the first part, Reigi-, derives from a form like *hraukia, *röiki, or *räike, meaning 'stony land, stony region', thus 'stony/rocky island'. The onomastician Aino Naert (1921–2008) pointed out that in the Hiiumaa Swedish dialect öy became i, and that the final -i in Reigi- may be a development of Swedish ö 'island' (from Old Norse ey).[2]
