Etymology

It is difficult to draw conclusions on the name of Sīkrags, Sīkrõg. According to A. Bīlenšteins the term is simply a compound of Latvian sīks ‎(“tiny”) +‎ rags ‎(“cape, horn”). The Finnish linguist Valentin Kiparsky is convinced that it is impossible to find a plausible Finnic etymology for this term. Only the first component according to him could be derived from the Livonian name of a fish sīg (sīgõz (Coregonus lavaretus) in LĒL), compare Estonian siig, Finnish siika, Veps sīg, although this lexeme can be found in Latvian as well (sīga), some linguists, however, consider it a borrowing from Finnic, although parallels can be found in Germanic and Slavic languages.

According to a folk etymology interpretation the first component is sigā ‎(“pig”).

There have been many speculations on the second component -rõg. There are approximately 60 toponyms on the Latvian coast with this component (including Pitrõg and Kuoštrõg (their etymologizations have been very different, however, q.v.)) Latvian rags ‎(“horn (of an animal), horn (geographical feature), cape”) is probably the most likely source. According to V. Kiparsky this would suggests that the location was initially inhabited by Latvians. It is also possible that the compound is made up of components from two different languages.^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /siːkrəg/