Hälli (Häll)

Cradle, cot. Two varieties: the standard side-to-side rocker, called the jalashäll (‘leg’, or rocking cradle, although the legs were joined by an arc or a bow), and the suspended version, the vibuhäll (‘bow’ or hanging cradle, the bow in question being the pole it dangled from), either box-like with four wooden sides or with upper and lower wooden frames supporting a cloth surround which would swing gently if baby kicked around enough. Häll is more a southern Estonian or Livonian word. In northern dialects they say Kätki, cf. Finnish kätkyt. In this instance, though, named after a former farm.