85it often introduces exempla or stories that have universal appeal (i.e., that could
be conceived of as occurring more than once), whilom retains some of its ori-
ginal iterative meaning.
3.3.2 From Adverb to Adjective
After the almost simultaneous loss of whilom as both an adverb and prag-
matic marker at the beginning of the LModE period, whilom acquires new life
in Present- day English as an adjective meaning ‘that existed at a former time,
former’ (see OED, s.v. whilom , adv. (and adj.) and conj., def. 2b). But the OED
notes that it is obsolete in the sense of ‘deceased or “late”.’ This form occurs
rarely in contemporary corpora. For example, COCA contains no examples, the
TIME magazine corpus (TIME) yields sixty examples, but only seven examples
are post- 1930s, with none later than 1971. In (8) are representative examples:
(8) a. There was ancient Jack Kearns, owner and groom to seven whilom world
champions, the man who took so much money out of Shelby. (1956/ 08/
06 TIME)
b. Before Jesse came on the scene, most of the whilom rebels were headed
for the standard non- careers of the neighborhood- petty crime, gang fi ghts or
debilitating welfare living. (1967/ 10/ 13 TIME)
c. Elder J. P. Morgan partners ate their dinners elsewhere, but the fi rm sent
young S. Parker Gilbert, whilom Agent General for Reparations, to a banquet
at Manhattan’s tall- towered Waldorf- Astoria last week for Comrade Maxim
Maximovich Litvinoff. (1933/ 12/ 04 TIME)
In this use, whilom typically appears before a title or the name of a profession,
rank, or role. Of the thirty- one twentieth- century examples in COHA, twenty-
fi ve precede nouns such as master , friend , conductor , teacher , pupil , servant ,
rival , manager , and so on.^14
In reference works, whilom is included among a set of now mostly obsolete
words meaning ‘onetime, former, at a former time’ (see, e.g., Garner 2003 : s.v.
erstwhile; quondam; whilom; sometime ). Of the forms listed, Garner notes that
they are all “learned” forms and sees whilom as least common.^15 Erstwhile ,
listed in the OED (s.v. erstwhile , adj. and adv.) as “literary,” is at least repre-
sented in COCA (with 614 hits).^16 Erstwhile is obviously built on the same root
14 Three examples precede abstract nouns ( deposition , arrogance , curiosity ) and one precedes an
adjective ( aristocratic ). As noted above, two are adverbial.
15 Webster’s (s.v. erstwhile , quondam, whilom ) advises against using either quondam or whilom
since they may interfere with understanding and using them may make one look like “a striver
for clever effects.” Fowler ( 1965 : s.v. late, erstwhile, ex- , former(ly), quondam, sometime, whi-
lom ) too advises against the use of most of these words, suggesting that such “antiques” are
unlikely to impress the reader (Fowler 1965 : s.v. Wardour Street ).
16 The search of COCA was made March 20, 2016.
3.3 Evolution of Whilom