† wherefroadv.
Chiefly Scottish. Obsolete.
1. relative = wherefrom adv.In quot. 1584 elliptical = to the place whence.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > direction > [adverb] > away from some thing or place > from which place
whethenwardc1175
whethena1340
whence1382
wherefroc1449
wherefrom1490
whenceforth1590
whence-from1666
whenceward1704
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > [adverb] > from which place (relative)
whennec1000
whethena1340
wherefroc1449
wherehenc1475
whence1535
whenceforward1899
c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 467 The occasioun wherbi and wherfro the goostli harme and synne comen.
1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 185 Amang the grene rispis and the redis Arrivit sche; quharfro anon thare landis Ane hundreth ladyes.
?1541 R. Copland Galen's Fourth Bk. Terapeutyke sig. Bjv, in Guy de Chauliac's Questyonary Cyrurgyens The thyng wherfro nothyng can be taken, nor put to it.
1584 King James VI & I Ess. Prentise Poesie sig. Hiiijv He tolde me then, how she flew bak againe, Where fra she came.
1588 A. King tr. P. Canisius Cathechisme or Schort Instr. h iv It behoueth ye cowrse of ye dominicall lettre to be Interrupted, euerie hundereth ȝere quhairfra is subduced ane day.
1643 Reg. Privy Council Scott. 2nd Ser. VIII. 66 Thomas Irwing..being verie seik in Quondale, quherfra he was flitting.
2. indicative interrogative = whence adv. and conj. 1b.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > [adverb] > from which place (interrogative)
whennec888
whethenc1200
whencec1300
wherehenc1400
wherefro1513
1513 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid ix. vii. 106 To se quhayrfra the grundyn dart dyd glyde.
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 25 This guse ȝeirlie in the spring tyme returnes to ws: quhairfra can na man tell.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1923; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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adv.c1449