whilom

whilom

English

WOTD – 27 December 2022

Alternative forms

• whilome (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English whilom (“(adverb) at one time, formerly, once; once upon a time; at times, sometimes; at a future time; (conjunction) while”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English hwīlum, hwīlan, hwīlon (“at one time, once; sometimes”), from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlum, the dative plural of *hwīlu (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”),[2] from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, time, while; period of rest, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”).

The Oxford English Dictionary regards adverb sense 2.2 (“for some time that has passed”) as “aberrant”.[2]

cognates

• Old High German hwīlōn (Middle High German wīlen, wīlent, German weiland (“at one time, formerly”))
• Old Saxon hwīlon (“sometimes”) (Middle Dutch wilen, Middle Low German wilen (“at one time, formerly”), Dutch wijlen (“deceased, late”))

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪləm/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwaɪləm/, /ˈʍaɪ-/
• Hyphenation: whil‧om

Adverb

whilom (not comparable)

1. (archaic except literary) At some time in the past; formerly, once upon a time.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:formerly

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 1, page 1:

     Lo I the man, vvhoſe Muſe vvhilome did maske, / As time her taught, in lowly Sheapards vveeds, / Am novv enforſt a far unfitter taske, […]

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Sumptuarie Lawes, or Lawes for Moderating of Expences”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821, page 145:

     VVith ſuch an invention [a sumptuary law] did Zelevcus vvhilome correct the corrupted maners of the Locrines.

   • 1662, [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678, OCLC 890163163; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge: University Press, 1905, OCLC 963614346, canto I, page 26:

     In Northern Clime a valorous Knight / Did whilom kill his Bear in fight, / And wound a Fidler: we have both / Of these the objects of our Wroth / And equal Fame and Glory from / Th' Attempt or Victory to come.

   • c. 1678 (date written; published 1682)​, J[ohn] Dryden, “Mac Flecknoe”, in Mac Flecknoe: A Poem. […] With Spencer’s Ghost: Being a Satyr Concerning Poetry. […], London: […] H[enry] Hills, […], published 1709, OCLC 5001242, page 4:

     My vvarbling Lute, the Lute I vvhilom ſtrung / VVhen to King John of Portugal I ſung, / VVas but the Prelude to that glorious Day, / VVhen thou on Silver Thames did'ſt cut thy vvay, / VVith vvell-tim'd Oars before the Royal Barge, / Svvell'd vvith the Pride of thy Celeſtial charge; […]

     Spelled whilome in the 1st edition (1682).

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which the History Goes Backward”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292, book VII, pages 66–67:

     The Squire himſelf novv ſallied forth, and begun to roar forth the Name of Sophia loudly, and in as hoarſe a Voice, as vvhileom did Hercules that of Hylas: […]

   • 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Introduction to Canto Fifth: To George Ellis, Esq.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, OCLC 270129616, page 231:

     They who whilome, in midnight fight, / Had marvelled at her matchless might, / No less her maiden charms approved, / But looking liked, and liking loved.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Downs—The Entrenchment—Ways of Larks. Hares—A Combat—Happiness of Animals. Ants—A Long Journey.”, in Wild Life in a Southern County […], London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 457550759, page 10:

     Holding it [the skull of a hare] in the hand the shadow falls into and darkens the cavities once filled by the wistful eyes which whilom glanced down from the summit here upon the sweet clover fields beneath.

2. (obsolete)
   1. At times, on occasion, sometimes.

      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:occasionally

      • a. 1599 (date written), Alexander Montgomery [i.e., Alexander Montgomerie], “An Admonitioun to Zoung Lassis”, in David Irving, editor, The Poems of Alexander Montgomery: […], Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for W[illiam] and C[harles] Tait, […], published 1821, OCLC 2495855, page 222:

        Wald ze be lov'd, this lessone mon ze leir; / Flie vhylome Love, and it will folou thee.

   2. (rare) Preceded by of or this: for some time that has passed.
      • 1610–1616 (date written), Iohn Fletcher [i.e., John Fletcher], Monsieur Thomas. A Comedy. […], London: […] Thomas Harper, for Iohn Waterson, […], published 1639, OCLC 4926619, Act IV, scene ii, signature I2, verso:

        This money I do give ye, becauſe of vvhilom / You have bin thought my ſonne, and by myſelfe too, […]

Translations

at some time in the past — see formerly,‎ once upon a time

Adjective

whilom (not comparable)

1. (archaic except literary) At some time in the past; former, sometime.

   Synonyms: erstwhile, quondam; see also Thesaurus:former

   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, “Death”, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume III (The Guillotine), London: James Fraser, […], OCLC 1026761782, book V (Terror the Order of the Day), page 290:

     On the same day, two notable Female Prisoners are also put in ward there: Dame Dubarry and Josephine Beauharnais! Dame whilom Countess Dubarry, Unfortunate-female, had returned from London; they snatched her, not only as Ex-harlot of a whilom Majesty, and therefore suspect; but as having 'furnished the Emigrants with money.'

   • 1879, J[ohn] P[entland] Mahaffy, “His Plots”, in John Richard Green, editor, Euripides (Classical Writers), London: Macmillan and Co., OCLC 3666984, paragraph 43, page 60:

     The play must have appeared during the closing years of the Peloponnesian war, and must have been fresh in men's memory, when, as Plutarch tells us (Life of Lysander, c. 15), the deliberations about the fate of conquered Athens were determined by a Phocian actor singing the opening monody, which moved all to pity by its picture of a whilom princess reduced to miserable poverty.

   • 1909, Henry James, “Mora Montravers. Chapter V.”, in The Finer Grain, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published October 1910, OCLC 639686, page 99:

     [S]he was expecting to be joined there by no such pale fellow-adventurer as her whilom uncle.

2. (obsolete) Of a person: deceased, late.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:dead

Translations

at some time in the past — see former,‎ sometime

Conjunction

whilom (archaic except Britain, dialectal and literary)

1. During the same time that; while.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:while

   • 1647, Theodore de la Guard [pseudonym; Nathaniel Ward], The Simple Cobler of Aggawam in America. […], London: […] J[ohn] D[ever] & R[obert] I[bbitson] for Stephen Bowtell, […], OCLC 560031272, page 77:

     Subjects their King, the King his Subjects greets, / VVhilome the Scepter and the Plough-ſtaffe meets.

2. Up to the time that; till, until.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:until

Translations

during the same time that — see while

up to the time that — see until

References

1. “whīlom, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
2. Compare “whilom, adv. (and adj.) and conj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “whilom, adv. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.