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Origin and history of hence

hence(adv.)

"(away) from here," late 13c., hennes, with adverbial genitive -s + Old English heonan "away, hence," from West Germanic *hin- (source also of Old Saxon hinan, Old High German hinnan, German hinnen), from PIE *ki-, variant of root *ko- "this," the stem of the demonstrative pronoun (see here).

The modern spelling (mid-15c.) is phonetic, to retain the breathy -s- (compare twice, once, since). Original "away from this place;" of time, "from this moment onward," late 14c.; meaning "from this (fact or circumstance)" first recorded 1580s. Wycliffe (1382) uses hennys & þennys for "from here and there, on both sides."

also from late 13c.

Entries linking to hence

here(adv.)

Old English her "in this place, where one puts himself; at this time, toward this place," from Proto-Germanic pronominal stem *hi- (from PIE *ki- "this;" see he) + adverbial suffix -r. Cognate with Old Saxon her, Old Norse, Gothic her, Swedish här, Middle Dutch, Dutch hier, Old High German hiar, German hier.

As the answer to a call, in Old English. Right here "on the spot" is from c. 1200. Here and there "in various places" is from c. 1300. Exact phrase here today and gone tomorrow is by 1680s in writings of Aphra Behn (here to-day, a-wey to-morn is from late 14c.). Here's to _____ as a toast is from 1590s, probably short for here's health to _____. Emphatic this here (adv.) is attested from mid-15c.; colloquially, this here as an adjective is attested from 1762. To be neither here nor there "of no consequence" is attested from 1580s. Here we go again as a sort of verbal rolling of the eyes is attested from 1950.

As a noun, "this place, the present" from c. 1600. Noun phrase here-and-now "this present life" is from 1829.

once(adv.)

"one time only; at one time in the past, formerly," c. 1200, anes, basically an adverbial form of one with adverbial genitive -s. The Old English form was æne, but it was replaced by, or reshaped by analogy with, the genitive singular of the early Middle English form of one and the common addition of -es to adverbs at that time. The spelling changed as pronunciation shifted from two syllables to one after c. 1300; the -ce is to retain the breathy -s- (compare hence). The pronunciation change to "wuns" parallels that of one.

As an emphatic, meaning "once and for all," it is attested from c. 1300, but in modern U.S. this is a Pennsylvania German dialect formation. Meaning "in a past time" (but not necessarily just one time) is from mid-13c.

Never once "never at all" is from early 13c. Once in a while "sometimes" is by 1781. Once upon a time as the beginning of a story is recorded from 1590s, earlier once on a time (late 14c.). At once originally (early 13c.) meant "simultaneously," later "in one company" (c. 1300), and preserved the sense of "one" in the word; the phrase typically appeared as one word, atones; the modern meaning "immediately" is attested from 1530s. Once and for all "once as a final act" is from 1848, earlier once for all (late 15c.).