wheresoever

English

Alternative forms

• wheresoe'er

Etymology

From Middle English hwer se eaver, hwer-se-eaver, hwer so ever, qheresoevere, quar-sua-ever, quere-so-ever, wer so ever, wharsoever, where-sere, wheresoever, where so evere, wher ser, wher-sever, wher-so-ever, wher so evere, wher-so-evere, whe[r] so er, whor so ever. By surface analysis, where +‎ so +‎ ever. Cognate with West Frisian hwērsāea (“wheresoever”).

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)

Conjunction

wheresoever

1. wherever
   • 1655, Philip Sidney, The Countess of Pembroke’s Arcadia, the tenth edition, London: […] William Du-Gard, page 186:

     While wee, returning again to embark our ſelvs for Greece, underſtood that the mightie Otanes (brother to Barzanes, ſlain by Muſidorus, in the battell of the ſix Princes) had entred upon the kingdom of Pontus, partly upon the pretences hee had 20 to the crown, but principally, becauſ hee would revenge upon him (whom hee knew wee loved) the loſs of his brother, thinking (as indeed he had cauſ) that whereſoëver wee were, hearing of his extremity, wee would com to reliev him;

   • 1881, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of the State of Wisconsin, with Tables of the Cases and Principal Matters, volume LII, Chicago: Callaghan & Company, page 571:

     We have said that in our judgment there was no evidence which would justify a jury in finding that the defendants, for a valuable consideration, sold the working right to the entire Heathcock range, wheresoëver it might run on lands owned by them.

Adverb

wheresoever (not comparable)

1. wherever