Latin mecum, tecum, etc.

[Steve Gustafson]

Eduard Selleslagh wrote:

<< Also Dutch and German, therefore W. Germanic (and its generally acknowledged
impact on Swedish, but less to none on older Scandinavian).

Dutch: d/waarvoor, d/waarvan, d/waarom, etc.
German: wof|r/daf|r, wovon/davon, warum/darum, etc.

I think this is authentic West-Germanic. E.g. Dutch and German use
Waarom/warum? for 'Why?' and have no other word for it that doesn't involve a
postposition. >>

I checked the Oxford dictionary, and it seems that the where- forms of these
words are attested in 1200-1300's at the earliest.  The there- forms of
these words are somewhat earlier, and a few attested in the period labelled
Old English.  Few seem to be of the earliest inherited stock, though whether
this is because they were lately developed, or simply never used often, is
something I can't say.  "Therefore" seems to be the oldest of the bunch, and
it strikes me as still the commonest.

They seem to have always been somewhat rare, and somewhat formal.  Now, of
course, they are used mostly in King James styled prose, or legal documents.
According to Alister McGrath's recent book on Bible translations ["In the
Beginning"], the word "thereof" was used frequently by Tyndale and his
successors largely because his version of Early Modern English was uncertain
as to whether the genitive of "it" should be "his" or "its."  "Its" occurs
but once in the King James Bible  (Lev. 25:5).  Using "thereof" sidestepped
the difficulty.  Once this word became common, its sister words also
peppered the Biblical style, and became a mark of a particularly lofty
register in English, appropriated by lawyers and scriveners for their
purposes, and securing these words a limited but persistent place.

--
When as Man's life, the light of human lust
In socket of his early lanthorne burnes,
That all this glory unto ashes must,
And generation to corruption turnes;
Then fond desires that onely feare their end,
Doe vainely wish for life, but to amend.
  --- Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke