Forms: 1 hwæs, 2–3 hwas, 3 hwos, (wuas), ȝwas, hwes, 3–4 whes, 3–5 whas, was, wos, 4 huas, wais, hoes, woise, 4–5 whoos, hos, 4–6 whos, whois, 5 whayse, whoys, hoys, (hosse), wose, 5–9 Sc. and north. whase, 6 whoes, woos, wois, hose, Sc. vhais, vhois, 7–8 who’s, 5– whose; 3–5 quase, 4 quos, quose, 4–5 quas, Sc. 4–8 quhais, (5 qwhos, qwose), 5–7 quhois, 6 quhas, (qwhois), 6–7 quhose, 6–8 quhase, 7 quhaes, quhoise. [ME. hwās, later hwǭs, whǭs, altered form of hwas, hwes, OE. hwæs (:—*χwasa) genitive of hwá and hwæt, through the influence of hwā, hwǭ WHO, hwām, hwǭm WHOM. (Later ME. whas prob. represents an unstressed variant.) Cf. OS. hwes, MLG., MDu., OHG., G. wes, ON. hues(s, MSw. hwes, hwas (Da. hvis), Goth. hwis:—*χwesa, Indo-Eur. *qweso, represented also by Gr. (Homeric) τέο for *τέσο, OSl. česo.]
The genitive case of WHO (and in OE. of the neuter WHAT: cf. 3 below). Used, in all senses, either before a sb. as a possessive adj. (like his, her, my, etc.), or absolutely (like his, hers, mine, etc.): in the latter case chiefly in the interrogative sense as predicate.
I. Interrogative uses (direct and dependent).
1. Of whom; belonging to whom; what person’s.
c. 897. K. Ælfred, Gregory’s Past. C., xlvii. 357. Ðæt hie ʓeðencen hwæs folʓeras hie sindon.
a. 1000. Collog. Ælfric, in Wr.-Wülcker, 92. Hunta ic eom. hwæs?
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxii. 42. Hwæt þincð eow be criste, hwæs sunu ys he?
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 99. Ȝif hie [sc. ðohtes] cumeð fram mannen, hie [sc. ȝepnesse] cann hwatliche underfinden, an hwos half he is icumen.
c. 1205. Lay., 17111. Næs nan witie þat auere wuste here whes sune he weore.
a. 1240. Ureisun, in O. E. Hom., I. 189. Maiden moder, maiden: and hwas moder? his hwas dohter þu art.
c. 1275. Passion of our Lord, 447, in O. E. Misc., 50. Hi casten heore lot hwes he scolde beo.
13[?]. Cursor M., 12224 (Gött.). Quat wamb him bar…, And wid was pappis was he fedd?
1340. Ayenb., 38. Þo þet ofhyealdeþ þe þinges þet hi vindeþ and wyteþ wel huas þet hi byeþ.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (A.), 6826. Telle þou me, Þis feir castel wos it be.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1726. Was men buth ȝe?
c. 1386. Chaucer, Man of Law’s T., 920. Whos is that faire child that stondeth yonder?
c. 1440. Alphabet of Tales, 265. He fand a dead mans head, and he had grete mervayll whose it was.
1566. Lauder, Tractate, Contents, And, last of all, vnto quhose actionis … suld Kyngis geue rathest actendence.
1592. Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 1077. Whose tongue is musick now?
1607. Dekker & Webster, Northw. Hoe, I. ii. A 4 b. Arrest me? at whose sute?
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., I. iv. 43. Whose fault is this?
1791. Cowper, Judgm. Poets, 4. A warm dispute … Whose temper was the best.
1883. D. C. Murray, Hearts, vii. ‘I’m sure of the voice….’ ‘Whose is it?’
1896. Housman, Shropsh. Lad, xxvii. I cheer a dead man’s sweetheart, Never ask me whose.
1908. R. Bagot, A. Cuthbert, vi. 58. Your offensive abuse of his poor father, and forgetfulness or Whose minister he was.
II. Relative uses. *as simple relative.
2. In reference to a person or persons (or to an animal or animals): Of whom. a. Introducing a defining or restrictive clause completing the sense: cf. WHO 9.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 37. Þe deuel … on ech of hise deden is iefned to þe deore wuas geres be forðteoð.
a. 1240. [see 1].
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2155. Of him o quas sede Was he born þat beit our nede.
a. 1325. MS. Rawl. B. 520, lf. 53 b. After þe wille of him hos þe werkes beȝ [= beð].
c. 1400. trans. Secr. Secr., Gov. Lordsh., 81. It ys meruail of a man how he may be syke or dye, whos mete ys breed of good whele.
1526. Tindale, Luke i. 27. A virgin spoused to a man, whose name was Ioseph.
1539. Bible (Great), Ps. xxxii. 1. Blessed is he, whose vnryghteousnesse is forgeuen.
1609. Skene, Reg. Maj., 37. Of heires of qvhais age their is ane doubt.
1611. Bible, Gen. xxxviii. 25. The man whose these are. Ibid., xliv. 17. The man in whose hand the cup is found.
1690. trans. J. Le Clerc’s Five Lett. Inspir., 56. The Apostles did not pass in their own time for Persons, whose every word was an Oracle.
1723. Ramsay, Fair Assembly, viii. A wife … Whase charms can silence dumps.
1790. Burke, Fr. Rev., 70. Persons who … sanctified their ambition by advancing the dignity of the people whose peace they troubled.
1836. W. Irving, Astoria, xli. To feast upon the horses whose blood they had so vaingloriously drunk.
1893. Max Pemberton, Iron Pirate, ii. Men whose laugh was a horrid growl.
b. Introducing an additional statement: thus sometimes equivalent to ‘and his (their, etc.)’: cf. WHO 10.
In early use occas. preceded by the: cf. WHICH B. 13, WHOM 8.
Formerly also separated from the antecedent, sometimes with resulting ambiguity (cf. WHO 10): occas. preceded by superfluous and (cf. WHO 12 b).
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 151. Þe lauerd N[athaniel] hwas dei hit is to dei.
c. 1220. Bestiary, 764. Ðis der, Wos kinde we hauen told ȝu her.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 4195. Eleyne þat noble mayde … was norice ich was.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1490. Noe, In quas time þe flod gan be.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, iv. (Jacobus), 210. In-to þe name of criste Ihesu, Fore quhais cause I am led now.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 103. Morpheus, the whos nature Is forto take the figure Of what persone that him liketh.
a. 1400. Pauline Ep. (1916), 42. Cryste in woise deþ we ar baptysyd.
1467. Stonor Papers (Camden), I. 95. To performe my Nonkilles wyll, hoys sowle God pardon. Ibid. (c. 1469), 104. Ȝowr modyr, hosse sowle Gode haue mersy.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, I. viii. A wulf … deuoured a sheep of whos bones he had one in his throte.
1526. Tindale, Rom. ix. 5. My brethren … the israhelites,… whose also are the fathers. Ibid., 1 Pet. ii. 24. Christ also suffered for oure sakes…. By whose strypes ye were healed.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. ii. I. i. 533. The young man … at last married her, to whose wedding amongst other guests came Apollonius.
1750. T. Cooke, Plautus, I. p. xxv. This Comedy is called Bacchides from two Sisters, Courtesans, who are the chief Characters in the Play; both whose Names are Bacchis.
a. 1774. Goldsm., trans. Scarron’s Com. Rom. (1775), II. 170. A hamlet, inhabited by fishermen, who’s humanity he had occasion to remember.
1791. Burke, App. Whigs, 88. It does not arise out of the inherent rights of the people, as the national assembly does in France, and whose name designates its original.
1820. Keats, Lamia, II. 279. The Gods, whose dreadful images Here represent their shadowy presences.
1864. J. Hunt, trans. Vogt’s Lect. Man, ii. 26. Vegetable feeders, such as ruminants, whose lower jaw acts like a millstone.
3. In reference to a thing or things (inanimate or abstract). Originally the genitive of the neuter WHAT (sense 7); in later use serving as the genitive of WHICH (senses 7 and 8), and usually replaced by of which, except where the latter would produce an intolerably clumsy form.
1382. Wyclif, Deut. viii. 9. The loond of oyle and of hony;… whos stones ben yren, and of the hillis of it ben doluen metallys of brasse.
1442. T. Beckington, Corr. (Rolls), II. 213. He hath … taken the townes and castles and forteresses whoos names be specified.
1482. Monk of Evesham, lv. (Arb.), 107. A ful glorious walle of crystal hoys heythe no man might see.
1528. Tindale, Obed. Chr. Man, 130. Loke yer thou lepe, whose literall sence is, doo nothinge sodenly or without avisemente.
1577. Harrison, England, II. ii. [v.] (1877), I. 46. Bath, whose see was sometime at Welles.
1602. Shaks., Ham., I. v. 15. I could a Tale vnfold, whose lightest word Would harrow vp thy soule.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 73. Mountains on whose barren brest The labouring clouds do often rest.
1661. Feltham, Lusoria, Lett., 65. A Disposition … whose affability may sweeten life.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), I. 74. A maxim of whose impropriety not St. Anthony himself could persuade him.
1807. Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1814), II. 10. The clock, whose huge bell … may be heard five leagues over the plain.
1863. Reade, Hard Cash, I. 100. The nerve man had prescribed … a medicine … whose effect on the nerves was nil.
1896. Pollock, 1st Bk. of Jurispr., vii. 179. Processes extending over two or three centuries, and whose fundamental analogies are … disguised in almost every possible way.
4. As objective genitive, in reference to a person (or animal) or a thing. Now rare: commonly replaced by of whom or of which. (Cf. note s.v. HIS poss. pron. 2.)
1382. Wyclif, Lev. xxii. 5. He … that shal touche … eny vnclene, whos touchynge is hoory [1388 foul].
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., V. ii. 493. Deedis whos forberingis schulden make hem the more sureli kepen hem fro breking of Goddis lawe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. vii. 4. Our the fludis bank ful swiftlie sprent, Quhais passage is vnreturnable went.
1551. Crowley, Pleas. & Pain, Ded. The pore of thys realme, whoes oppression doeth alredy crye vnto the Lorde for vengeance.
1601. Dolman, La Primaud. Fr. Acad., III. lxxxvii. 391. The Hart or Stag, in whose chase great Lords take much pleasure.
1605. Shaks., Macb., III. i. 105. I will put that Businesse in your Bosomes, Whose execution takes your Enemie off.
1730. Chamberlayne’s Relig. Philos. (ed. 3), II. xvii. § 1. Things, whose particular Discussion would … exceed the Design of this Book.
1754. Cambridge, in World, No. 102, ¶ 2. Any thing whose loss they can so easily supply.
1821. Southey, Lett. to John May, 7 April. This deplorable old man, whose sight … excited in me a mingled feeling of horror and disgust.
** 5. As compound relative, or with ellipsis of antecedent = he (him, etc.) whose. Often in generalized sense = whosesoever. Now rare or arch.: cf. WHO 6, 8, WHOM 5, 6.
Sometimes with the generalized sense indicated by so(ever) or so ever following the sb. (Cf. WHOSESOEVER.)
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1648. & quos deth so he dezyre he dreped als faste.
a. 1400. in Engl. Gilds (1870), 352. Ȝif oþere chalouns beþ y-founde þat ne habbeþ þelke a-syse, in was hond hij beþ y-founde, be forfeted.
c. 1420. ? Lydg., Assembly of Gods, 1299. Blere whos ey ye woll … with your myst.
1432–50. [see WHRINNY].
1460. Rolls of Parlt., V. 384/1. In whos handes so evere they bee.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 7. Quhais Sinnis ȝe forgeue, ar forgeuin vnto thame.
1592. Arden of Feversham, 1092. Speede to my wish, whose wil so ere sayes no.
a. 1633. G. Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 196. Whose house is of glasse, must not throw stones at another.
1667. Milton, P. L., VIII. 647. Heavenly Guest,… Sent from whose sovran goodness I adore.
