Unnumbered source etymology
Original entry ↗What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question. · With antecedent as subject. · With antecedent as object: whom. · Whoever, he who, they who.
A person under discussion; a question of which person.
whose
From Middle English who, hwo, huo, wha, hwoa, hwa, from Old English hwā (dative hwām, genitive hwæs), from Proto-West Germanic *hwaʀ, from Proto-Germanic *hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷos, *kʷís. The sound change /hw/ > /h/ (without a corresponding change in spelling) was due to wh-cluster reduction after an irregular change of /ɑː/ to /oː/ in Middle English (instead of the expected /ɔː/) and further to /uː/ regularly in Early Modern English. A similar change occurred in two. Compare how, which underwent wh-reduction earlier (in Old English), and thus is spelt with h. Compare Scots wha, West Frisian wa, Dutch wie, Low German we, German wer, Swedish vem, Danish hvem, Norwegian Bokmål hvem, Norwegian Nynorsk kven, Icelandic hver.
Relationships mentioned by the source
These are extracted mentions, not a timeline or a verified sequence of immediate parents.
- Root classification mention*kʷ-ine-pro
- Inherited-form mentionwhoenm
- Inherited-form mentionhwāang
- Inherited-form mention*hwaʀgmw-pro
- Inherited-form mention*hwazgem-pro
- Derivation mention*kʷosine-pro
- Cognate mentionwhasco
- Cognate mentionwafy
- Cognate mentionwienl
- Cognate mentionwends
- Cognate mentionwerde
- Cognate mentionvemsv
- Cognate mentionhvemda
- Cognate mentionhvemnb
- Cognate mentionkvennn
- Cognate mentionhveris
This page abbreviates 1 auxiliary source items. The etymology narrative is not shortened. Omission counts are available in the audit fields below; consult the original for complete auxiliary material.
Inspect preserved source fields
Raw extraction fields are retained for auditing. Their order does not establish ancestry.
{
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"expansion": "Middle English who"
},
{
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{
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{
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"expansion": "Scots wha"
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{
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"args": {
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"2": "wa"
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"expansion": "West Frisian wa"
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{
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"expansion": "Dutch wie"
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{
"name": "cog",
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"expansion": "Low German we"
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{
"name": "cog",
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"expansion": "German wer"
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{
"name": "cog",
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{
"name": "cog",
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{
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{
"name": "cog",
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{
"name": "cog",
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"expansion": "Icelandic hver"
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[
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[
"hwā",
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[
"hwām",
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[
"hwæs",
"hwæs#Old_English"
],
[
"*hwaʀ",
"Reconstruction:Proto-West Germanic/hwaʀ"
],
[
"*hwaz",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Germanic/hwaz"
],
[
"*kʷos",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/kʷos"
],
[
"*kʷís",
"Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/kʷís"
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[
"two",
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"how",
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"wa",
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[
"wie",
"wie#Dutch"
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[
"we",
"we#Low_German"
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[
"wer",
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[
"vem",
"vem#Swedish"
],
[
"hvem",
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[
"hvem",
"hvem#Norwegian_Bokmål"
],
[
"kven",
"kven#Norwegian_Nynorsk"
],
[
"hver",
"hver#Icelandic"
]
],
"references": [],
"descendants": [],
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{
"pos": "pron",
"glosses": [
"What person or people; which person or people; asks for the identity of someone; used in a direct or indirect question.",
"With antecedent as subject.",
"With antecedent as object: whom.",
"Whoever, he who, they who."
],
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"A person under discussion; a question of which person."
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