whosoever

See also: whosoëver

English

WOTD – 21 May 2006

Alternative forms

• whosoëver (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English whosoever. By surface analysis, who +‎ so +‎ ever.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /huːsəʊˈɛvə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /huːsoʊˈɛvɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛvə(ɹ)

Pronoun

whosoever (objective whomsoever, possessive whosesoever) (formal)

1. Whatever person or persons: emphasised or elaborated form of whoever.

   Whosoever partakes of this elixir shall have eternal life.

   • 1595 December 9 (first known performance), [William Shakespeare], The Tragedie of King Richard the Second. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Valentine Simmes for Androw Wise, […], published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]:

     If thou do pardon whoſoeuer pray, / More ſinnes for this forgiueneſs proſper may: […]

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 6:47:

     Whoſoeuer commeth to me, and heareth my ſayings, and doeth them, I will ſhew you to whom he is like.

   • 1638, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Cure of Deſpaire by Phyſick, good counſell, comforts, &c.”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy. […], 5th edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed [by Robert Young, Miles Flesher, and Leonard Lichfield and William Turner] for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 3, section 4, member 3, subsection 6, page 707:

     His mercy is a panacea, a balſome for an afflicted ſoule, a Soveraigne medicine, an alexipharmacum for all ſinne, a charme for the Divell, his mercy was great to Solomon, to Manaſſes, to Peter, great to all offenders, and whoſoever thou art, it may be ſo to thee.

   • 1840 May 5, Thomas Carlyle, “Lecture I. The Hero as Divinity. Odin. Paganism: Scandinavian Mythology.”, in On Heroes, Hero-Worship and The Heroic in History, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1840, →OCLC, page 8:

     This world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, inscrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.

   • 1982 (date recorded), Rod Temperton (lyrics and music), “Thriller”, performed by Michael Jackson:

     Whosoever shall be found without the soul for getting down, must stand and face the hounds of hell

Usage notes

• See who and whom.

Related terms

• who
• whoever
• whomsoever

Translations

whatever person

• Greek:

  Ancient: ὅστις (hóstis)

• Latin: quisquis (la)

Anagrams

• howsoever