whence
Language: English
Part of speech: adv
Pronunciation: enpr: hwĕns
ipa: /ʍɛns/
note: wine-whine
enpr: wĕns
ipa: /wɛns/
note: wine-whine
rhymes: -ɛns
Etymology: From Middle English whennes, from Old English hwanon (with adverbial genitive -s), related to hwonne (whence when). Analyzable as when + -s.
Senses: examples: text: Whence came I?
text: "Pork" comes from French, whence we get most of our modern cooking terms.
text: Go to whence you came!
text: 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.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 8:14, column 1:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: Whence, I often asked myself, did the principle of life proceed?
ref: 1816 June – 1817 April/May (date written), [Mary Shelley], chapter III, in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. […], volume I, London: […] [Macdonald and Son] for Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor, & Jones, published 1 January 1818, →OCLC, pages 81–82:
text: [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.
ref: 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:
text: 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?
ref: 1883, A. E. Housman, Fragment of a Greek Tragedy:
text: […]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."
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: [1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, “A Discovery”, in Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC, page 47:
text: They swore all the gold should go back
Deep into the earth whence it came.
ref: 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:
antonyms: whither
glosses: From where; from which place or source.
Derived terms: anywhence
elsewhence
everywhence
nowhence
somewhence
whenceforth
whencesoever
whencever
Related terms: hence
thence