hwær

Forms

hwǣr^[1] Anglian hwēr;^[2] hwer in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[3][4] Also hwār.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *hwār, from Proto-Germanic *hwar (“where”).^[1] The adverb is common Germanic: Gothic 𐍈𐌰𐍂 (ƕar), Old Norse hvar, Old Frisian hwēr, Old Saxon hwār and Old High German wār.^[7][8][9] It was made to the interrogative root Proto-Indo-European *kʷo- with the locative suffix *-r of *þar (“there”).^[7] Orel finds the same suffix in Latin cūr (“why”) and Lithuanian kur (“where”).^[8][9]

The West Germanic forms point to a long vowel: Kroonen explains it by lengthening in a monosyllable, as in the Latin word for “why” from Old Latin quōr.^[7] Ringe and Taylor call the lengthening of “there” and “where” an irregular Proto-West Germanic change, perhaps under deictic stress or on the model of hēr.^[10] The long vowel was then fronted in the north of West Germanic, giving West Saxon ⟨ǣ⟩ and Anglian ⟨ē⟩, the same outcomes as those of Proto-Germanic /ē/.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adverb is first recorded in the Mercian gloss of the Vespasian Psalter, of the mid-ninth century, in the Anglian form hwer: in a psalm verse hwer is god ðin renders “ubi est deus tuus”, “where is your God?”^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word asks where something is, with verbs of rest and also of motion (“whither”), and introduces indirect questions.^[6][11] In the elegies it leads the lament for what is gone, Hwǣr cwom mearg? hwǣr cwom mago?, “where has the horse gone, where the young man?”^[6] As an indefinite it means “anywhere, somewhere”, swā hwǣr swā is “wherever”, elles hwǣr “elsewhere”, and hwǣr … hwǣr “here … there”.^[11][5][12] In the glosses it renders Latin “ubi”.^[13] The word lived on as Middle English wher, now where.^[14][15]

Timeline

• s. ix med. – hwer is god ðin “where is your God?” in the Vespasian Psalter gloss.^[3][4]
• 890×897 – hwǣr in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20).^[16][4]
• s. x/xi – hwǣr and hwār, and elles hwǣr “elsewhere”, in Beowulf.^[5][17]

Meanings

Adverb

1. where? in what place? also whither.^[6][11]
2. where, in indirect questions and as a relative;^[11][12] swā hwǣr swā wherever.^[11][12]
3. anywhere, somewhere;^[5][11] elles hwǣr elsewhere.^[5][11]
4. hwǣr … hwǣr: here … there, at one place … at another.^[12][11]

Word family

• āhwǣr
• ǣġhwǣr
• ġehwǣr
• nāhwǣr
• nāthwǣr
• hwǣrhwugu

Descendants

• Middle English wher (→ English where; English quhar; English quher)^[1]

Related words

• hwanon
• þǣr
• hēr

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 13
3. ^ a b c Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 329
4. ^ a b c d Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
5. ^ a b c d e Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. hwǣr
6. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 571
7. ^ a b c Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 263
8. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 198
9. ^ a b Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 179
10. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 65
11. ^ a b c d e f g h Sweet, Henry (1896), The Student's Dictionary of Anglo-Saxon, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 118
12. ^ a b c d Liebermann, F. (1906), Die Gesetze der Angelsachsen, vol. II.1: Wörterbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 119
13. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. hwǣr
14. ^ Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
15. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
16. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
17. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344