whose English · revision 3357

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 897|origins=ine-pro *kʷos}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /huːz/^(Roach et al. 2011)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|whos]], [[inh|ang|hwæs]], the genitive of [[m|ang|hwā|t=who]] and [[m|ang|hwæt|t=what]],^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000)^(COED 2004)^(SOED 2002) from [[ine-pro|*kʷos|alt=*kwo-]], the stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.^(Etymonline)^(AHD 2000) Early Middle English hwās, hwōs was altered, with a lengthened vowel, by association with hwā, hwō, the source of [[who]] and [[whom]].^(Hoad 1986)^(SOED 2002)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ “Of whom, belonging to whom”: about 897.^(OED 1989) Merriam-Webster dates the adjective to before the 12th century.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a relative introducing a defining clause it is from about 1200, and introducing an additional statement from about 1175.^(OED 1989) In reference to things, inanimate or abstract, it is from 1382, originally as the genitive of ''what''.^(OED 1989) The pronoun used alone, as in ''whose is this?'', is from the 12th century.^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 897 – of whom.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1175 – as a relative, introducing an additional statement.^(OED 1989)

+ * c. 1200 – introducing a defining clause.^(OED 1989)

+ * 1382 – of things.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Determiner===

+ # Belonging to which person: ''whose book is this?''^(AHD)^(SOED 2002)

+ # Of whom or of which, introducing a relative clause: ''the man whose car was stolen'' or ''the play, whose style is formal''.^(AHD)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ===Pronoun===

+ # The one or ones belonging to which person.^(AHD)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[whosesoever]]

+ * [[whosever]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[who]]

+ * [[whom]]

+ * [[what]]

+ * [[which]]

+ * [[whoever]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The American Heritage Dictionary notes that it has been claimed ''whose'' should refer only to people, but that there is long literary precedent for using it as the possessive of ''which'', and that the alternative ''of which'' can sound stilted.^(AHD)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}