Lost in Translation

Because I think this is really incredibly cool:

English has nine directional/place words that indicate position in or movement regarding a place. Three of them we use pretty much every day; six have fallen into disuse, which is sad, because they’re pretty amazing words. To illustrate, imagine that you are standing at the other end of a football field from your good friend Bob. Francine, another friend, is moving around the football field:

• Position

  • Here means “in this place”. “Francine is here, next to me.”
  • There means “in that place”. “Francine is there, next to Bob.”
  • Where means “in what place”. “Where is Francine? I don’t see her.”

• Direction toward

  • Hither means “to this place”. “Francine is coming hither, from Bob to me.”
  • Thither means “to that place”. “Francine is going thither, from me to Bob.”
  • Whither means “to what place”. “Whither is Francine going? She’s off to the sidelines and running fast.”

• Direction away from

  • Hence means “from this place”. “Francine is going hence, from me to Bob.”
  • Thence means “from that place”. “Francine is coming thence, from Bob to me.”
  • Whence means “from what place”. “Whence is Francine coming? She just reappeared with a bucket of Gatorade…”

(Incidentally, this means that “from whence” is redundant. “Whence” already means “from where”.)