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Wheresoe'er dispersed


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Not that you’re likely to be spelling this out any time soon… but wheresoe’er is the shortening of wheresoever, which is a more emphatic form of ‘wherever’. The apostrophe is placed at the location of the missing letter, as in Hallowe’en or can’t (for cannot), don’t (for do not), shouldn’t (for should not), etcetera. There is a gradual trend in the written language to dropping these apostrophes (vide Halloween), but it’s not possible with can’t. <Can’t> can’t be <cant>, which is a different word.

 

The missing letter rule also applies to <its> and <it’s>, where <its> means <of it> and <it’s> means <it is>. This can be especially tricky because the apostrophe is also used in possessives, and <of it> is possessive. Confusion of <its> and <it’s> is the commonest spelling error in written English! Try not to fall into the trap!

Masons and lawyers are very familiar with some of these antique but precise words:
hereby, thereby, whereby
herewith, therewith, wherewith
withal, herewithal, therewithal, wherewithal
hereas, thereas, wheras
hence, thence, whence
herein, therein, wherein
hereon, thereon, whereon
hereunder, thereunder, whereunder
hereat, thereat, whereat
hereupon, thereupon, whereupon
hereover, thereover, whereover
herefore, therefore, wherefore… <therefore> is a common word!
heretofore, theretofore, wheretofore
hereafter, thereafter, whereafter
hereinafter, thereinafter, whereinafter
herever, therever, wherever
whichever, whatever, whoever, however … common words
whichsoever, whatsoever, wheresoever, whosoever, howsoever
… and others.

Whence, thence and hence mean from where, from there, from here; so never use them with a preposition, as in “from whence” which is considered tautological (bad usage) unless you’re writing archaisms – as in the King James Bible “from whence cometh my help”.

WHEREAS notwithstanding the precision of the words hereinbefore mentioned,
AND WHEREAS same words are freighted with usefulness in the English lexicon,
AND WHEREAS some archaisms are still stylistically felicitous,
it would appear that only lawyers, legislators and Freemasons
have the wherewithal to utilize them betimes and henceforth.
The undersigned Editor ycleped Graeme Marsden.

From Newsletter 18
24 March 2006

Rural Lodge AF&AM
1170 Hancock Street, Quincy MA 02169, USA
www.RuralLodge.org

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