whence

Etymology
From, from (with adverbial genitive ), related to  (whence ). Analyzable as.

Adverb

 * 1)  From where; from which place or source.

Usage notes

 * This word is uncommon in contemporary usage; from where is now usually substituted (as in the example sentence: Where did I come from? or From where did I come?). Whence is now mainly encountered in older works and in poetic or literary writing. As a result of the obsolescence of the older directional verb system, words like whence and its antonym whither are sometimes used interchangeably as hypercorrect synonyms of where.
 * From whence has a strong literary precedent, appearing in Wyclif's Bible translation, Shakespeare and the King James Bible, as well as in the writings of numerous Victorian-era writers. In recent times, however, it has been criticized as redundant by some usage commentators.
 * From whence has a strong literary precedent, appearing in Wyclif's Bible translation, Shakespeare and the King James Bible, as well as in the writings of numerous Victorian-era writers. In recent times, however, it has been criticized as redundant by some usage commentators.

Translations

 * Arabic: مِن أَيْن, مِن حَيْثُ
 * North Levantine Arabic: منين
 * Armenian:
 * Azerbaijani: haradan, hardan
 * Bashkir: ҡайҙан
 * Basque: nondik
 * Belarusian: адку́ль
 * Bulgarian:
 * Catalan: d'on, des d'on
 * Czech:
 * Danish: hvorfra, hvoraf, hveden
 * Dutch:
 * Esperanto: de kie, el kie
 * Faroese: hvaðani
 * Finnish:
 * Fore: forrt, gerrt
 * French:
 * Georgian: საიდან, საიდანაც
 * German:
 * Gothic: 𐍈𐌰𐌸𐍂𐍉
 * Greek:
 * Ancient: πόθεν, ὅθεν , ὁπόθεν
 * Hebrew: מֵאַיִן,
 * Hungarian:, , miből,  , , , amelyből
 * Icelandic:
 * Ido:
 * Ingrian: kust, mist
 * Italian:, , da dove
 * Japanese: どこから
 * Korean: 어디서
 * Latin:
 * Macedonian: од каде
 * Maori: nō hea, nō whea
 * Norwegian:
 * Bokmål: hvorfra
 * Nynorsk: kvar ifrå, kor ifrå
 * Old English: hwanon
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:, de onde
 * Quechua: maymanta
 * Romanian: de unde
 * Russian:
 * Serbo-Croatian:
 * Roman: ,
 * Shor: қайдаң
 * Slovak: odkiaľ
 * Slovene: od kod, od koder
 * Spanish: de donde, desde donde
 * Swedish:, var i från,
 * Tibetan: ག་ནས
 * Turkish:
 * Ukrainian: зві́дки

Translations

 * Arabic: مِن حَيْث
 * Bulgarian: откъдето
 * Faroese: hvaðani
 * Finnish: ,
 * French:
 * Galician: de aí, de onde, do cal
 * German: von daher
 * Hungarian:
 * Italian:, , da dove, da cui
 * Portuguese: de onde,
 * Spanish:, de donde
 * Swedish:


 * Danish: hvorfra, hvoraf
 * Dutch: ,
 * Esperanto: el kie
 * German:
 * Greek:, από πού, από όπου
 * Macedonian: откаде
 * Romanian: de unde
 * Russian:, , ,
 * Swedish:, var av, , var i från,