Reigilaid (Rootsi)

Reigilaid is a former small islet in the Baltic Sea split between the settlements of Rootsi and Pihla, Estonia.

Geography

Reigilaid lies at the southeast end of Reigi Bay, about northeast of the beach at Kõrgessaare. It is now a peninsula of the island of Hiiumaa. Reigilaid has an area of about. It lies 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 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'.