History of The Isle of Wight - Etymology and Early History

Etymology and Early History

In the 1st century BC, the Graeco-Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus (V. 22) refers to an unlocated Ίκτιν (=Ictim): this is possibly a reference to the Isle of Wight. A century later, Pliny the elder uses Vectis and in the mid 2nd century Ptolemy confirms the position of Vectis as "...below Magnus Portus." The form Vectis seems reasonably robust but Rivet and Smith were uncertain of its etymology. A gloss on an AD 1164 MS of Nennius that equates Anglo-Saxon wiht with Latin divorcium has encouraged many writers to think that the Isle of Wight sits like a lever (Latin vectis) between the two arms of the Solent and/or that there was an underlying Celtic root akin to Irish fecht "journey" or Welsh gwaith "work". However, a 2010 detailed study of the etymology draws attention to the proto-Germanic root *wextiz, which would have been written Vectis in Latin, and survives in various modern-language forms, including English whit (something small), German wicht (dwarf/imp) and Dutch wicht (little girl). This suggests that an early form of the name Wight actually preceded Vectis, and that the fundamental meaning is something like "daughter island" or "little companion".

Julius Caesar recognised the culture of this general region as "Belgic", but made no reference to Vectis. Later, Suetonius describes the first century Roman invasion of Vectis by the Second Legion Augusta, commanded by the Claudian legate and future emperor Vespasian, who "proceeded to Britain where he fought thirty battles, subjugated two warlike tribes, and captured more than twenty towns, besides the entire Isle of Vectis".

The Isle of Wight became an agricultural centre in Roman times, and at least seven Roman villas are known on the island. The Roman villas at Newport and Brading have been excavated and are open to the public. When fully developed around 300 AD, Brading was probably the largest villa on the Island, being a courtyard villa with impressive mosaics.