Where does “whomsoever” come from?
I need to work through this chain carefully, but I notice there's a significant problem: the chain provided cycles through "English whom," "English so," "English sol," and "Latin sol" repeatedly, which doesn't form a coherent etymological path to "whomsoever." A legitimate etymology for "whomsoever" would be: whom (object form of who) + so (archaic intensive) + ever, from Old English origins. However, the chain you've provided doesn't support this standard etymology and appears corrupted or incomplete. Given the rule that I must "state only what the chain supports" and "do not invent," I cannot write an accurate sentence because the chain itself doesn't provide a valid etymological sequence for "whomsoever." Could you verify the chain? A proper chain should show how English "whomsoever" derives from its component parts and their origins, likely tracing back through Old English or Proto
whomsoever (English): whichever person, whomever
Definitions
- whichever person, whomever
Ancestry of “whomsoever”, step by step
whomsoever traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.
via English soever
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | soever | In any fashion, of any kind; used for emphasis... |
| 2 | English | So | A Mon-Khmer-speaking people of Laos and Thailand;... |
| 3 | English | Sol | The Sun, the star orbited by the Earth |
| 4 | Old French | sol | alone; sol; Old French coin |
| 5 | Latin | solidum | solid |
| 6 | Latin | solidus | solid; A solidus: a Roman ~23-carat gold coin... |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | soliðos | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | solh₂-i-dʰ-o-s | entire |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | solh₂- | whole |
via English whom
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English | whom | What person or people; which person or people, as... |
| 2 | Middle English | whom | (to) who, whom accusative or dative |
| 3 | Old English | hwām | — |
| 4 | Proto-Germanic | hwammai | masculine/neuter dative of *hwaz |
| 5 | Proto-Germanic | hwaz | who, what; whose; whom |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷos | See *kʷis |
| 7 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷ- | The primary interrogative root |