Reigate

English Etymology From en enm Reigate, enm Raygate, from an unattested Old English bare‐stem compound (West Saxon ang *Rǣġegatu or Kentish ang *Rēġegatu), from en ang rǣġe roe deer + ang gatu gates (plural of ang ġeat). See ‐gate. The modern pronunciation with /aɪ/ is the result of a phonological shift during the Early Modern English period, for which two primary pathways are proposed: It may reflect the local Kentish or South‐Eastern dialectal development of the Old English compound (*Rēġegatu). In these dialects, West Saxon ǣ was regularly raised to ē. The palatal glide of the first element vocalized, creating a diphthong that smoothed in Middle English into the long vowel /iː/, which subsequently lowered to /aɪ/ via the Great Vowel Shift. Alternatively, descending from the standard West Saxon form (*Rǣġegatu), the Old English sequence ǣġ regularly yielded the Middle English diphthong /æi̯/. This later underwent a dialectal centralisation to [əi] in a stressed open‐syllable environment, merging with the outcome of Middle English /iː/ and eventually lowering to /aɪ/. Pronunciation en /ˈɹaɪɡeɪt/ full form en /ˈɹaɪɡət/ reduced form Proper noun en market town in, and the administrative headquarters of, co/Surrey cc/England. Derived terms en Reigate and Banstead