whit (n.)

Old English wiht "living being, creature, person; something, anything," from Proto-Germanic *wihti- (source also of Old Saxon wiht "thing, demon," Dutch wicht "a little child," Old High German wiht "thing, creature, demon," German Wicht "creature, little child," Old Norse vettr "thing, creature," Swedish vätte "spirit of the earth, gnome," Gothic waihts "something"), from PIE *wekti- "thing, creature" (source also of Old Church Slavonic vešti "a thing"). Not related to the Isle of Wight, which is from Latin Vectis (c. 150), originally Celtic, possibly meaning "place of the division."