whence

English

WOTD – 9 November 2012

Etymology

From Middle English whennes, from Old English hwanon (with adverbial genitive -s), related to hwonne (whence when). Analyzable as when +‎ -s.

Pronunciation

• enPR: hwĕns, IPA^(key): /ʍɛns/
• (in accents with the wine-whine merger) enPR: wĕns, IPA^(key): /wɛns/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛns

Adverb

whence (not comparable)

1. (archaic, formal or literary) From where; from which place or source.

   Antonym: whither

   Whence came I?

   "Pork" comes from French, whence we get most of our modern cooking terms.

   Go to whence you came!

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 8:14, column 1:

     Ieſus anſwered, and ſaid vnto them, Though I beare record of my ſelfe, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I goe: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I goe.

   • 1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “A Further Account of Glubbdubdrib. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London: […] Benj[amin] Motte, […], →OCLC, part III (A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdribb, Luggnagg, and Japan), page 108:

     I could plainly diſcover from whence one Family derives a long Chin; why a ſecond hath abounded with Knaves for two Generations, and Fools for two more; why a third happened to be crack-brained, and a fourth to be Sharpers.

   • 1818, [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, →OCLC, pages 81–82:

     Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?

   • 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sea Chest”, in Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC, part I (The Old Buccaneer), page 29:

     [W]hat greatly encouraged me, it was in an opposite direction from that whence the blind man had made his appearance, and whither he had presumably returned.

   • 1883, A. E. Housman, Fragment of a Greek Tragedy:

     O suitably-attired-in-leather-boots
     Head of a traveller, wherefore seeking whom
     Whence by what way how purposed art thou come
     To this well-nightingaled vicinity?

   • 1885, Richard F[rancis] Burton, transl. and editor, “The Seventh Voyage of Sindbad the Seaman”, in A Plain and Literal Translation of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, now Entituled The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night […], Shammar edition, volume VI, [London]: […] Burton Club […], →OCLC, page 71:

     […] But when I had bestridden the plank, quoth I to myself, "Thou deservest all that betideth thee. All this is decreed to me of Allah (whose name be exalted!), to turn me from my greed of gain, whence ariseth all that I endure, for I have wealth galore."

   • 1898, J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, [https:// page 47]:

     At first I could not tell what this new sound was, nor whence it came, and now it seemed a little noise close by, and now a great noise in the distance. And then it grew nearer and more defined, and in a moment I knew it was the sound of voices talking.

   • 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:

     They swore all the gold should go back
     Deep into the earth whence it came.

Usage notes

• This word is uncommon in contemporary usage; from where is now usually substituted (as in the example sentence: Where did I come from? or From where did I come?). Whence is now mainly encountered in older works and in poetic or literary writing. As a result of the obsolescence of the older directional verb system, words like whence and its antonym whither are sometimes used interchangeably as hypercorrect synonyms of where.

1. • 2017 November 17, “[ https://www.northern-times.co.uk/news/we-rightly-remember-those-who-fell-across-europe-and-beyond-138284 We rightly remember those who fell across Europe and beyond]”, in The Northern Times:

     I remember my father telling me of the 11th of November in London, whence he had gone from Tain to work, in the 1930s.

• From whence has a strong literary precedent, appearing in Wyclif's Bible translation, Shakespeare and the King James Bible, as well as in the writings of numerous Victorian-era writers. In recent times, however, it has been criticized as redundant by some usage commentators.

Derived terms

Terms derived from whence

• anywhence
• elsewhence
• everywhence
• nowhence
• somewhence
• whencever
• whenceforth
• whencesoever

Related terms

• hence
• thence

Translations

from where; from which place or source

• Arabic: مِن أَيْن (min ʔayn), مِن حَيْثُ (min ḥayṯu)

  North Levantine Arabic: منين (mnen)

• Armenian: ուստի (hy) (usti)
• Azerbaijani: haradan, hardan
• Bashkir: ҡайҙан (qayźan)
• Basque: nondik
• Belarusian: адку́ль (adkúlʹ)
• Bulgarian: откъде́ (bg) (otkǎdé)
• Catalan: d'on, des d'on
• Czech: odkud (cs)
• Danish: hvorfra, hvoraf, hveden
• Dutch: waarvandaan (nl)
• Esperanto: de kie, el kie
• Faroese: hvaðani
• Finnish: mistä (fi)
• Fore: forrt, gerrt
• French: d’où (fr)
• Georgian: საიდან (saidan), საიდანაც (saidanac)
• German: woher (de)
• Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐌸𐍂𐍉 (ƕaþrō)
• Greek: αφού (el) (afoú)

  Ancient: πόθεν (póthen) (direct interrogative), ὅθεν (hóthen) (relative), ὁπόθεν (hopóthen) (indirect interrogative)

• Hebrew: מֵאַיִן (meáin), מִנַּיִן (he) (minnáin)
• Hungarian: (interrogative) honnan (hu), honnét (hu), miből, (relative) ahonnan (hu), ahonnét (hu), amiből (hu), amelyből
• Icelandic: hvaðan (is)
• Ido: deube (io)
• Ingrian: kust, mist
• Italian: onde (it), donde (it), da dove
• Japanese: どこから (doko kara)
• Korean: 어디서 (eodiseo)
• Latin: unde (la)
• Macedonian: од каде (od kade)
• Maori: nō hea, nō whea
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: hvorfra

  Nynorsk: kvar ifrå, kor ifrå

• Old English: hwanon
• Polish: skąd (pl)
• Portuguese: donde (pt), de onde
• Quechua: maymanta
• Romanian: de unde
• Russian: отку́да (ru) (otkúda)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: odakle (sh), otkud (sh)

• Shor: қайдаң
• Slovak: odkiaľ
• Slovene: od kod, od koder
• Spanish: de donde, desde donde
• Swedish: varifrån (sv), var i från, vadan (sv)
• Tibetan: ག་ནས (ga nas)
• Turkish: nereden (tr)
• Ukrainian: зві́дки (zvídky)

Conjunction

whence

1. (literary, poetic) Used for introducing the result of a fact that has just been stated; thence

   The work is slow and dangerous, whence the high costs.

   I scored more than you in the exam, whence we can conclude that I am better at the subject than you are.

Antonyms

• whither

Related terms

• hence
• thence

Translations

conjunction

• Arabic: مِن حَيْث (min ḥayṯ)
• Bulgarian: откъдето (otkǎdeto)
• Faroese: hvaðani
• Finnish: josta (fi), mistä (fi)
• French: d’où (fr)
• Galician: de aí, de onde, do cal
• German: von daher
• Hungarian: innen (hu)
• Italian: onde (it), donde (it), da dove, da cui
• Portuguese: de onde, donde (pt)
• Spanish: de ahí (es), de donde
• Swedish: varför (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Danish: hvorfra, hvoraf
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} waarvandaan (nl), ^{(please verify)} waar … vandaan…
• Esperanto: el kie
• German: ^{(please verify)} woher (de)
• Greek: πούθε (el) (poúthe), από πού (apó poú), από όπου (apó ópou)
• Macedonian: откаде (otkade)
• Romanian: de unde
• Russian: отку́да (ru) (otkúda), отсю́да (ru) (otsjúda), сле́довательно (ru) (slédovatelʹno), зна́чит (ru) (znáčit)
• Swedish: varav (sv), var av, varifrån (sv), var i från, vadan (sv)