Isle of Wight
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Wight
[wahyt]
- Isle of, an island off the S coast of England, forming an administrative division of Hampshire. 147 sq. mi. (381 sq. km). County seat: Newport.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Isle of Wight
- See (Isle of) Wight
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wight1
- archaic a human being
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Word Origin
Old English wiht; related to Old Frisian āwet something, Old Norse vǣttr being, Gothic waihts thing, German Wicht small person
wight2
- archaic strong and brave; valiant
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Word Origin
C13: from Old Norse vigt; related to Old English wīg battle, Latin vincere to conquer
Wight
- Isle of Wight an island and county of S England in the English Channel. Administrative centre: Newport. Pop: 136 300 (2003 est). Area: 380 sq km (147 sq miles)
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for isle of wight
wight
n.
Old English wiht "living being, creature," from Proto-Germanic *wekhtiz (cf. Old Saxon wiht "thing, demon," Dutch wicht "a little child," Old High German wiht "thing, creature, demon," German Wicht "creature, infant," Old Norse vettr "thing, creature," Swedish vätte "spirit of the earth, gnome," Gothic waihts "something"). The only apparent cognate outside Germanic is Old Church Slavonic vešti "a thing." Not related to the Isle of Wight, which is from Latin Vectis (c.150), originally Celtic, possibly meaning "place of the division."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper