| This set of adverbs still has some literary use, though whence is now rare, having been replaced in modern English by ‘where from’. Hence is the most complex form, having meanings of place, time, and result (the latter common in modern formal English), and also entering into the |
occasional compound formation, such as hence-going [= departure] (Cym III.ii.64). Other constructions belonging to this set (e.g. whenceforth) were used in Early Modern English, but are not found in Shakespeare. |
| Item |
Location |
Example |
Gloss |
| hence |
AYL II.vii.3 |
he is but even now gone hence |
(away) from here, from this place |
| hence |
CE III.i.122 |
I’ll meet you at that place some hour hence |
from now, from this point in time |
| hence |
LC 110 |
controversy hence a question takes |
as a result, therefore |
| henceforth |
RJ III.v.241 |
Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be twain |
from this time forth; from now on |
| henceforward |
2H6 IV.vii.16 |
henceforward all things shall be in common |
from now on |
| thence |
Tem I.ii.394 |
Thence I have followed it |
(away) from there, from that place |
| whence |
1H6 I.iv.99 |
Whence cometh this alarum and the noise? |
from which / what place, from where [also: from what source / origin] |
| whencesoever |
R2 II.iii.22 |
It is my son ... / Sent from my brother Worcester whencesoever |
from whatever place, from somewhere or other |
Several of these forms were sometimes used with a redundant preposition.
| Item |
Location |
Example |
Gloss |
| hence, from |
R2 III.iii.6 |
Richard not far from hence hath hid his head |
|
| henceforth, from |
1H4 I.iii.5 |
I will from henceforth rather be myself |
|
| thence, from |
CE IV.iv.147 |
Fetch our stuff from thence |
|
| whence, from |
CE III.i.37 |
Let him walk from whence he came |
|
| whence, of |
MM III.ii.206 |
Of whence are you? |
|
HERE, THERE, AND WHERE; HITHER, THITHER, AND WHITHER