Hights

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Is called or named, in archaic English usage
2. Goes by the name of, in old or poetic speech
3. Is referred to or known as, in archaic or literary language

Etymology: "Hights" is the third-person singular present of "hight," an archaic verb meaning "to be called" or "to be named." It belongs to the same family as the verb "to hight" in older English, where a person might say a child "hights John" to mean the child is named John. The verb survives today mostly in poetry, hymns and deliberately old-fashioned writing. The verb descends from Old English "hātan," meaning "to call" or "to name," and in Middle English this became "highten," a variant of "hoten." Its form shifted over the centuries. The past tense "hight," from Old English "hēht," was the form most people remembered, and speakers gradually reshaped the present tense to match it, which is why the present now sounds the way it does rather than following the older pattern. Related words in other Germanic languages show the same root: Scots has "hecht," Dutch "heten," and German "heißen," all meaning to be called. The English word "height" is unrelated in origin, despite the similar spelling, since it comes from the adjective "high" rather than from this verb.