niht

Niht is the Old English noun meaning “night.” It was the standard term for the period of darkness between sunset and sunrise in early medieval English, appearing in a wide range of texts from poetry to prose, including the Beowulf manuscript. In Old English, niht could carry literal and metaphorical senses, referring to darkness, danger, sleep, or concealment, and it often appeared in alliterative lines characteristic of the period.

Etymology and cognates: Niht derives from the Proto-Germanic ancestor of the word for night and is cognate with Gothic naihts, Old High German naht, German Nacht, Dutch nacht, and Icelandic nótt. The form reflects the shared Germanic heritage of the word across northern European languages.

Evolution and modern reflex: The modern English word night ultimately descends from niht through Middle English spellings such as nihte or niht, with the later introduction of the digraph gh. The pronunciation shifted over time, with the Middle English /iː/ or /i/ vowel and the gh representing a now-silent consonant cluster, resulting in the contemporary pronunciation /naɪt/.

Cultural and linguistic significance: As a basic temporal and cultural concept, niht figures prominently in Old English literature and lore as a marker of time, atmosphere, and nocturnal imagery, illustrating how the unit of night structured narrative and daily life in early medieval England. See also: night, Nótt, Nacht.