whatsoever English · revision 10679

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=c. 1250|origins=en whatso|origins=en ever}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: UK /ˌwɒt.səʊˈev.ə/, US /ˌwʌt.soʊˈev.ɚ/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is apparently [[whatso]], whatever (about 1200, a contraction of Old English hwæt swā), with [[ever]] added,^(Etymonline)^(MWU 2024) or perhaps from [[what]] and soever, “at all” (by the late 12th century);^(Etymonline) either way it is a double intensive of what.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a pronoun, whatever: about 1250 in the OED, the mid-13th century in Etymonline, as quuat-so-euere.^(OED 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As an adjective it is from the mid-15th century, 1484 in the OED.^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989) Middle English also had what-sum-ever (early 14th century),^(Etymonline) and poetry contracted it to whatsoe'er.^(Etymonline) Today it is used mostly after a negative as an intensifier, “at all” (''no doubt whatsoever''), while the pronoun use is archaic.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – whatso.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1250 – whatsoever (pronoun).^(OED 1989)

+ * 1484 – adjective use.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # At all; used after a [[negative]] for emphasis: ''no reason whatsoever''.^(Collins 2023)^(AHD)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # ''(archaic)'' [[whatever|alt=Whatever]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[whatever]]

+ * [[what]]

+ * [[soever]]

+ * [[whosoever]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}