Etymograph

English

hence

Hence is a later Middle English spelling of hennes (henne + adverbial -s), from Old English heonan ‘from here’, ultimately Proto-Germanic *hiz.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hiz‘this’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hin-reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150heonan‘from here, away’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hennes
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602hence

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hiz‘this’reconstructed
  2. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*hin-reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150heonan‘from here, away’
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500hennes
  5. Englishearliest quotation c. 1599–1602hence

Earliest quotation: c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: “O Gertrude, come away: / The sun no ſooner…”

The story

A later Middle English spelling, retaining the voiceless -s, of hennes (henne + adverbial genitive ending -s), from Old English heonan (‘away", "hence’), from a Proto-West Germanic *hin-, from Proto-Germanic *hiz, and Proto-Germanic *-anē.

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ḱís ‘this (here)’

cis

through Proto-Germanic *hiz ‘this’

his, he, him, her, here, hey, en, hitherto, hither

through Old English heonan ‘away", "hence’

hen

Today it means

adv From here, from this place, away.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *hiz / hence

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