Where does “hwe” come from?
hwe (Old Saxon) comes from Proto-West Germanic hwaʀ, from Proto-Germanic hwaz, from Proto-Indo-European kʷos, from Proto-Indo-European kʷ- — The primary interrogative root.
Ancestry of “hwe”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Proto-West Germanic | hwaʀ | who |
| 2 | Proto-Germanic | hwaz | who, what; whose; whom |
| 3 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷos | See *kʷis |
| 4 | Proto-Indo-European | kʷ- | The primary interrogative root |