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Wight
(Isle of) means probably channel island.
(Celtic gwy, water; gwyth,
the channel.) The inhabitants used to be called Uuhtii or Gwythii, the
inhabitants of the channel isle.
According to the famous Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, the island is so called from Wihtgar, great
grandson of King Cerdic, who conquered it. All eponymic names- that
is, names of persons, like the names of
places, are more fit for fable than history: as
Cissa, to account for Cissanceaster
(Chichester); Horsa to account for
Horsted; Hengist to account for Hengistbury;
Brutus to account for Britain; and so on.
Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894 More on Wight from Infoplease:
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