| The exact origin of the name "Isle of Wight" is | | | | pronunciation changed, so did the spelling of the |
| unknown, lost as it is to time. The "Isle" part is | | | | Isle of Wight, becoming what it is today. This is |
| fairly obvious, but it's the "Wight" that people get | | | | also most likely incorrect as there would be no |
| stuck on. There are many stories about how it | | | | reason to differentiate the island as creature filled, |
| got its name, some of them plausible, some of | | | | given that its ecology was much the same as the |
| them likely, some of them sounding plausible until | | | | south of Britain in general. |
| research is done, and some of them just being | | | | The two most likely explanations are that it is a |
| outright silly. This article will cover some of the | | | | combination of various names that were given to |
| more likely ideas, though it will also state which of | | | | it. The first possibility is that the Beaker people, |
| these are wrong, even though they are fairly | | | | named after their distinctive pottery, who arrived |
| widespread ideas. | | | | on the island in 1900BC called the island "Wiht" |
| The first is that the island is called the "Isle of | | | | which meant "raised" in their language, probably |
| Wight" because of the white cliffs that surround | | | | due to the island's appearance of sharply rising out |
| it, raising it above the sea. In this version of the | | | | of the sea. This, along with the Celtic word |
| name's origin, "Wight" is just an alternate or old | | | | "gywth", meaning channel, combined to form an |
| spelling of "White". This is incorrect though. The | | | | amalgamation of the two, "the raised section of |
| island does have white cliffs, but they did not | | | | the channel", which would have been essentially |
| contribute to its name (at least, their colour didn't). | | | | the "wight" we know today. The island is located |
| Although the sound is very similar to the "hwit" | | | | in the British Channel, between Britain and France, |
| that meant "white" in Old English, the spelling would | | | | so this makes a lot of sense. |
| have followed that of the rest of the country, | | | | The other explanation is that in 400BC, Iron Age |
| becoming either "wite" or "white", rather than | | | | Celts gave the island its name of Wight, which |
| "wight". | | | | meant a place of divisision, because it is between |
| The second, also incorrect idea, is that it is | | | | the two outstretching "arms" of land that make |
| because the island used to be called the isle of | | | | up the solent. If this explanation is true, it's one of |
| "wiht" in Old English, which was the Old English | | | | the very few Celtic names still in existence in |
| word for creatures, and so, as the spelling and | | | | Britain. |