An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/weiß

by Friedrich Kluge

weiß, adjective, ‘white, blank,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German wîȥ (from hwîȥ), adjective; corresponding to Gothic hweits, Old Icelandic hvítr, Anglo-Saxon and Old Saxon hwít, Dutch wit, English white. This common Teutonic term (hwîto-) is based on an Aryan root kwī̆d, kwī̆t, from which are derived Sanscrit çvit, ‘to be white, to shine’ (so too çvêtá, çvitrá, çvitna, ‘white’), Zend spaẹta, ‘white,’ Old Slovenian světŭ, ‘light,’ and Lithuanian szvaitýti, ‘to make bright.’ Gothic hwaiteis (Modern High German Weizen, ‘wheat’), is related by gradation.