An Etymological Dictionary of the German Language/Annotated/weit

by Friedrich Kluge

weit, adjective, ‘wide, broad, ample,’ from the equivalent Middle High German and Old High German wît; corresponding to Old Saxon and Anglo-Saxon wîd, English wide, Dutch wijd, Old Icelandic víðr, ‘roomy, extended, spacious.’ Allied to Sanscrit vîtá, ‘straight’?. From its form Teutonic vî-do- seems to be a participle derivative of a root wī̆.