Thitherto... hitherto

Question

Are these sentences correct?Hence did I come thitherto.Thence did I come hitherto.

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Are these sentences correct? Hence did I come thitherto. Thence did I come hitherto.[/nq]
Gadzooks and alack. Nay.
"Hence" means "from here." "Come" implies "to here." How can you come here from here?
"Thitherto" means "until that time." I don't see how it applies to a single action like "come," you need a verb that shows a continued action, like "stay." (You stayed somewhere until a certain time.)

The "thence" is OK. "Hitherto" has the same problem as "thitherto."

Might I ask, why do you want to know?

With a hey, nonnie, nonnie Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Are these sentences correct? Hence did I come thitherto. Thence did I come hitherto.[/nq]
[nq:1]Gadzooks and alack. Nay.[/nq]
D
[nq:1]"Hence" means "from here." "Come" implies "to here." How can you come here from here?[/nq]
I see
"Hence I go there."
OK?
[nq:1]"Thitherto" means "until that time." I don't see how it applies to a single action like "come," you need a verb that shows a continued action, like "stay." (You stayed somewhere until a certain time.)[/nq]
"1986 was a really exciting year. I lived in Prague thitherto." Is it OK?
[nq:1]The "thence" is OK. "Hitherto" has the same problem as "thitherto." Might I ask, why do you want to know?[/nq]
Actually, just to know. I meet these words sometimes but I can't understand how one should use them.
jeremi

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Actually, just to know. I meet these words sometimes but I can't understand how one should use them.[/nq]
One shouldn't use them unless one's goal is to obfuscate.

Robert

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Donna Richoux filted:
[nq:2]Are these sentences correct? Hence did I come thitherto. Thence did I come hitherto.[/nq]
[nq:1]Gadzooks and alack. Nay. "Hence" means "from here." "Come" implies "to here." How can you come here from here? "Thitherto" ... The "thence" is OK. "Hitherto" has the same problem as "thitherto." Might I ask, why do you want to know?[/nq]
I could see it working...you pick up the phone and it's your good buddy who drinks a little...buddy wants to know why you aren't at his place like you're supposed to be...you tell him you did come two hours ago when you had arranged to be there, but nobody answered so you figured he wasn't home...you hopped in your Nini Cooper and came back to your own place to watch cartoons..

Thus: "Hence" (from your place) "did I come" (where you were supposed to be) "thitherto" (to your buddy's house). "Thence" (from his house, after deciding he wasn't home) "did I come" (back) "hitherto" (in front of the TV when the phone rang)..
If your buddy's enough of a lush, you might use the archaic phrasing just to mess with his head..r

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Actually, just to know. I meet these words sometimes but I can'tunderstand how one should use them.[/nq]
[nq:1]One shouldn't use them unless one's goal is to obfuscate.[/nq]
Hmm... actually I think that "hence" is a quite useful and often used word (unlike *therto).

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Are these sentences correct? Hence did I come thitherto.[/nq]
I doubt that they say what you mean. If you mean "I came from here to there", the word you want is "thither", not "thitherto". What you actually said was, "Until that time, I came (presumably repeatedly) from here", although I wouldn't count on most people being at all familiar with "thitherto".
[nq:1]Thence did I come hitherto.[/nq]
Similarly, you probably want "Thence did I come hither", which can either mean "I came from there to here" or "From that time, I (repeatedly) came here". What you said was something like "Until now, I repeatedly came from there" or "From then till now, I repeatedly came".

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >Sometimes I think the surest sign
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 >that intelligent life existsPalo Alto, CA 94304 >elsewhere in the universe is that

http://www.kirshenbaum.net/

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Are these sentences correct? Hence did I come thitherto. Thence did I come hitherto.[/nq]
If you're going to compose archaic English, do it right:

Hence came I thitherto.
Thence came I hitherto.
Gary

Usenet · Answer

Well, sort of. The meaning "from here" is archaic; nobody talks like that any longer. If you lived in Shakespeare's day, you could, and these examples (via Rhymezone.com) show how he used it (see its position in the phrases):
Go, take hence that traitor from our sight
He goes hence frowning:
The prince hath ta'en it hence:
Nowaday you see "hence" used occasionally with the meaning of "therefore." Also with time, like "a thousand years hence."
[nq:2]"Thitherto" means "until that time." I don't see how it ... action, like "stay." (You stayed somewhere until a certain time.)[/nq]
[nq:1]"1986 was a really exciting year. I lived in Prague thitherto." Is it OK?[/nq]
Again, it's archaic. I'm not sure you ever could put thitherto at the end of a sentence like that. Rhymezone shows that Shakespeare never used it at all. He used "hitherto" eight times, though, and, yes, one of them was at the end of a clause:
We have been guided by thee hitherto,
The way "thitherto" is really used nowadays is as an adverb meaning "up-to-then." From Google:
as we had thitherto enjoyed
in a way thitherto unparalleled
which, for a variety of reasons, had thitherto been ignored
[nq:2]The "thence" is OK. "Hitherto" has the same problem as "thitherto." Might I ask, why do you want to know?[/nq]
[nq:1]Actually, just to know. I meet these words sometimes but I can't understand how one should use them.[/nq]
Very seldom. Very, very seldom.
You might like using Rhymezone and Google to search for other archaic and near-archaic words. Also, we have a little article on "thee" and "thou" at the a.u.e website.
Thou, thee & archaic grammar
http://alt-usage-english.org/pronoun paradigms.html

Best wishes Donna Richoux

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Are these sentences correct? Hence did I come thitherto. Thence did I come hitherto.[/nq]
[nq:1]Gadzooks and alack. Nay. "Hence" means "from here." "Come" implies "to here." How can you come here from here? "Thitherto" ... The "thence" is OK. "Hitherto" has the same problem as "thitherto." Might I ask, why do you want to know?[/nq]
''What, without asking, hither hurried whence?
And, without asking, whither hurried hence!
Another and another Cup to drown
The Memory of this Impertinence!''

John Dean
Oxford
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Thitherto... hitherto

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