History of the Isle of Wight inhabitants of southern Britain at this time may indeed have been Germanic, rather than Celtic, which could re-open the possibility of the island's name having Germanic roots. The Romans occupied southern Britain, including the Isle of Wight, for nearly four hundred years. The Romans built no towns on the island, but it became an agricultural centre, and at least seven Roman villas are known. 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 on the Island, being a courtyard villa with impressive
History of the Isle of Wight the Proto-Germanic word "*wextiz", which would have been "Vectis" in Latin, and survives in various modern-language forms, including Modern English "whit" "something small" (English "wight" is considered a revival from Middle English), German "wicht" "dwarf, imp", Dutch "wicht" "little girl" and Norwegian "vette" "being, creature (especially supernatural)". This might suggest that the meaning is something like "daughter island" or "little companion"; however if Germanic languages were not widely spoken in Britain during the Roman era, as has been the consensus, then they would be an unlikely source for the Latin "Vectis". However more recently it has been argued that the