Rutja is a village in

Haljala Parish Haljala Parish () is a rural municipality of Estonia, in Lääne-Viru County. It has a population of 4297 (2021) and an area of 549 km2. Populated places Small borough Haljala - Võsu Villages Aaspere - Aasu - Aasumetsa - Aaviku - ...

Lääne-Viru County Lääne-Viru County ( or ''Lääne-Virumaa'') is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is in northern Estonia, on the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. In Estonian, ''lääne'' means western and ''ida'' means east or eastern. Lääne-Viru borders Id ...

, northern

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. It is located on the coast of the Bay of Finland and on the western shore of the Selja River. It borders

Karepa Karepa is a village in Haljala Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) Kalame Farm Museum The Kalame Farm Museum (or Richard Sagrits Museum) is a farm museum in the village. Part of the museum's collection ...

to the east. Rutja has attractive beaches and (mainly pine) forests.

Name

Rutja was attested in historical sources as ''Heuschlag zu Ruddy'' (as the name of a meadow) in 1498, ''Stranddörfern Ruddi u Sulli'' in 1652, ''Raudja'' in 1792, and ''Rudja'' in 1871. The Finnish linguist suggested that the name comes from ''ruttaja'' 'one who hurries'. In Finnish, hydronyms beginning with ''Ruta-'' derived from the dialect word ''ruta'' 'mud, slime resulting from plant decomposition', which according to the Finnish onomastician may have referred to the muddiness of the shore; this could also be the origin of the name of the coastal village of Rutja.

History

Rutja Airfield, a disused Soviet military airfield, is located in Rutja. It was home to the 66th Soviet Attack Air Regiment, which flew as many as 45

Su-17 The Sukhoi Su-17 (''izdeliye'' S-32; NATO reporting name: Fitter) is a variable-sweep wing fighter-bomber developed for the Soviet military. Developed from the Sukhoi Su-7, the Su-17 was the first variable-sweep wing aircraft to enter Soviet serv ...

aircraft. In 2022, exercises for Operation Saber Strike were held in Rutja.

References

Villages in Lääne-Viru County Kreis Wierland {{LääneViru-geo-stub