Latin mecum, tecum, etc.

[Leo A. Connolly]

Steve Gustafson wrote:

> I was reminded, when I replied to this, that (being a lawyer in my day job)
> I've occasionally wondered about the antiquity, or lack of same, of
> formations like "whereof," "whereas" and "therefore."

> I'm not that well read in Old English, but I don't recall that they are
> common there, if they exist at all.  There are not many of these
> constructions in Old Norse, and those are mostly late.  But a few similar
> constructions arose in modern Swedish, like -varigenom- and -varfo"r-.  The
> use of "where" and "there" when "what" or "that" would seem to be expected
> is also somewhat peculiar, and shared between English and Swedish.

> Are these imitations or calques on Latin forms?

not hardly.  They also occur in at least German and Dutch: German womit
'with what?', damit 'with it/them', hiermit 'hereby', Du waarmee 'with
what?', daarmee 'with it/them' etc.  There's nothing like tis in Latin.

Leo Connolly