Rolf answered: 'Rolf hight I.'"
-Allen French, The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow.
Rolf is a fictional young man living in 11th century Iceland. I have long loved this book, and today I came upon the word "hight" while researching related topics. Though its meaning was obvious, it always intrigued me:
"Hight" is an English verb meaning "to call/name," and "to be called/named." It is an archaic term, meaning it is no longer in general use, but people understand it when found in written text.
Sources:
"Hight" in Wiktionary,
"Archaic" in Wiktionary
This word, not surprisingly, sounds remarkably similar to these phrases meaning "my name is":
Icelandic:
ég heiti...
(yerch* hey-te) *ch as in Loch.
Old English:
íċ háte...
(eech ha*-te) *long a, as in "father."
German: Ich heisse...
(eesh/eek high-se)
