hwanon

• hwanan, hwonan, hwanun

From Proto-West Germanic *hwananā, with Proto-Germanic *-anē.

• IPA^(key): /ˈxwɑ.non/, [ˈʍɑ.non]

hwanon

1. where from; whence

   Hwanon hæfst þū þone hætt?

   Where did you get that hat?

   Sē wind blǣwþ þǣr hē wile, and þū ġehīerst his swēġ, ac þū nāst hwanon hē cymþ ne hwæder hē gǣþ.

   The Wind bloweth wherever he will, and thou hearest his sough, but thou knowest not whence he cometh nor whither he goeth. [Note: "wind" was a masculine word in Old English]

   • c. 990, Wessex Gospels, John 19:9

     Hwanon eart þū?

     Whence art thou?

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Beginning of Creation"

     Nu þencð menig man and smeað hwanon deofol come; þonne wite he þæt God gesceop to mæran engle þone þe nu is deofol: ac God ne gesceop hine na to deofle; ac þaða he wæs mid ealle fordón and forscyldgod þurh þa miclan up-ahefednysse and wiðerweardnysse, þa wearð he to deofle awend, seðe ǣr wæs mære engel geworht.

     Now many a man will think and inquire, whence the devil came? be it, therefore, known to him that God created as a great angel him who is now the devil: but God did not create him as the devil; but when he was wholly fordone and guilty towards God, through his great haughtiness and foemanship, then became he changed to the devil, who before was created a great angel.

   • c. 992, Ælfric, "On the Beginning of Creation"

     Nu smeagiað sume men hwanon him come sawul?

     Now some men will inquire, whence came his soul?

2. how (not the general meaning of "in which way", but meaning "from which source" or "from where")

   Hwanon sċeal iċ witan?

   How should I know?

• āhwanon (“anywhence; from anywhere”)
• nāhwanon (“nowhence; from nowhere”)
• ġehwanon (“allwhence; from everywhere”)
• þanon (“thence”)
• heonan (“hence”)