Thursday, February 10, 2005
(8:38 PM) | Adam Kotsko:
Reintroduction
Our locational pronouns/adverbs have flattened out in the last hundred years or so. We need to restore the English language to its full glory. To that end, I command the reintroduction of the following words into daily usage, sorted under the currently common words of which they are derivatives:Where
Whence == from where
Whither == to where
There
Thence == from there
Thither == to where
Here
Hence == from here
Hither == to here
"Hence" still has some life in its figurative usage to denote consequences of stated arguments: "Hence, we can say...." "Hither" is barely holding onto life in the little-used cliché "come-hither look." This is, however, all the foothold we need: the broader meanings of "hence" and "hither" can be derived from their current impoverished usages, and the meaning of the other terms is clear by analogy.
