Southern Vectis "Vectis" is the Roman name for the Isle of Wight. The buses were built by the London bus body builder, Christopher Dodson. In 1929, the company was purchased by Southern Railway and was incorporated as "The Southern Vectis Omnibus Company Limited". In 1948, Southern Railway was nationalised and then in 1969, Southern Vectis became part of the National Bus Company. In 1986, with deregulation after the passing of the Transport Act 1985, the business was sold in a management buy out. Five new operators entered the market on the Isle of Wight. In 1987, Southern Vectis started Badger Vectis in
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