hwæt

Etymology
From.

Cognates include 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬. The Indo-European root also led to 🇨🇬, 🇨🇬, and 🇨🇬.

Pronoun

 * 1) what
 * 2) * The Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn
 * "ang"

- Hwæt sind þā þrēo þing þe nān mann būtan libban ne mæġ?


 * 1) * c. 995, Ælfric, Extracts on Grammar in English
 * "ang"

- Dǣdlīcu word ġeswitoliaþ hwæt menn dōþ.


 * 1) * c. 992, Ælfric, “Midlent Sunday”
 * "ang"

- Mid hwon magon wē byċġan hlāf þissum folce?


 * 1) * c. 996, Ælfric, Lives of Saints
 * "ang"

- Hwæs ābītst þū?


 * 1) * The Legend of St. Andrew
 * "ang"

- Ealle menn flēoþ of þǣre ċeastre. Tō hwon willaþ ġē þæder faran?


 * 1) why
 * 2) * late 9th century, King Alfred's translation of Boethius' 
 * "ang"

- Hwæt seofast þū wiþ mē?


 * 1) * c. 990, , John 4:27
 * "ang"

- His leornungcneohtas wundrodon þæt hē wiþ wīf spræc, þēah heora nān ne cwæþ “Hwæt sēcst þū?” oþþe “Hwæt spricst þū wiþ hīe?”


 * 1) what kind (+genitive)
 * 2) * c. 996, Ælfric's Lives of Saints
 * "ang"

- Þā behēoldon swīðe ġeorne þā ċeapmenn hine, and be him on ġeþance smēadon hwæt manna hē bēon sċolde.


 * 1) how many or how much (+genitive)
 * 2) * c. 992, Ælfric, “Palm Sunday: On the Lord’s Passion”
 * "ang"

- Iūdās sōna ēode tō þāra Iudēisċena rǣde and openlīċe befræġn hwæt hīe him fēos ġeūðen ġif hē þone Hǣlend him belǣwan meahte.


 * 1) * late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans
 * "ang"

- Be þām hringum man meahte witan hwæt Rōmāna duguþe ġefeallen wæs, for þon þe hit wæs þēaw mid him on þām dagum þæt nān ōðer ne mōste gyldenne hring werian būtan hē æðeles cynnes wǣre.


 * 1) * late 9th century, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
 * "ang"

- Hwæðer Rōmāne hit witon nū ǣnegum menn tō seċġenne hwæt heora folces on Ispāniam on fēawum ġēarum forwurde?


 * 1) * The Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn
 * "ang"

- Sæġe mē hwæt fisċcynna sīe.


 * 1) anything, something
 * 2) * late 9th century, translation of Orosius' History Against the Pagans
 * "ang"

- Sēo lēo bringþ hungrigum hwelpum hwæt tō etenne.


 * 1) * c. 1011, Byrhtferth's Manual
 * "ang"

- Ġif þū tōdǣlst hwæt on fēower, sē fēorða dǣl biþ quadrans ġeċīeġed, and þā ōðre dōdrantēs bēoþ ġenemnede.


 * 1) * late 10th century, Ælfric, “Preface to Genesis”
 * "ang"

- Þā unġelǣredan prēostas, ġif hīe hwæt lȳtles understandaþ of þām Lǣdenbōcum, þonne þyncþ him sōna þæt hīe mæġen mǣre lārēowas bēon.


 * 1) who (in questions and implied questions about who someone is)
 * 2) * late 10th century, Ælfric, the Old English Hexateuch, Genesis 27:32
 * "ang"

- Þā cwæþ Isaāc, “Hwæt eart þū?” Hē andwyrde and cwæþ, “Iċ eom Ēsau.”


 * 1) * c. 990, , John 21:12
 * "ang"

- Nān þāra þe þǣr sæt ne dorste hine āscian hwæt hē wǣre. Hīe wisson þæt hit wæs Dryhten.


 * 1) * c. 992, Ælfric, “The Second Sunday After Pentecost”
 * "ang"

- Ġif iċ wisse hwæt hē wǣre, iċ wolde liċġan æt his fōtum.


 * 1) * c. 992, Ælfric, “The Passion of the Apostles Simon and Jude”
 * "ang"

- Sē ealdormann hīe befræġn hwæt hīe wǣren, oþþe hwanon hīe cōmen, oþþe hwȳ hīe þæder cōmen.


 * 1) * c. 990, , John 8:52-53
 * "ang"

- Þā cwǣdon þā Iūdēas, “Nū wē witon þæt þū eart wōd. Ābrahām wæs dēad, and þā wītegan, and þū cwist, ‘Ġif hwā mīn word ġehielt, ne biþ hē nǣfre dēad.’ Cwist þū þæt þū sīe mǣrra þonne ūre fæder Ābrahām, þe wæs dēad? And þā wītegan wǣron dēade! Hwæt þyncþ þē þæt þū sīe?”

Adverb

 * 1) indeed, how
 * 2) * "ang"

- Hwæt we Gardena in geardagum þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon;


 * 1) * "ang"

- Hwæt þu hæfst geweaxen!

Usage notes
Beginning with the work of Jacob Grimm, scholars have presumed 'hwæt' may have had the capacity to appear as an interjection. However, in recent decades, this assumption has been demonstrated to be false. Hwæt does not behave syntactically as an interjection, it is not listed by Aelfric as an OE interjection, and it appears zero times in 85 glosses of Latin ecce. See the Walkden article in References for more.