The Evolution of Pragmatic Markers in English Pathways of Change

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(10) a. All them that had arte or parte of the slaughter..of whylum William, Earle of
Douglas, my brother. (1452 in P. F. Tytler Hist. Scotl. (1864) II. 387 [OED])
b. The fyftene Chapter. Howe kynge Salamon whilom kynge of Hungry was put
to fl yght. (1554 Boccaccio, The tragedies, gathered by Ihon Bochas [EEBO])
c. the Burgundians whilom slaues to the Romaines (1574 Bale, The pageant of
popes [EEBO])
d. In the time of our forefathers, the Lord of Franget, Whilom Lieutenant of
the Marshall of Chastillions companie, (1613 Montaigne, Essays written in
French by Michael Lord of Montaigne [EEBO])
e. Designeing her the wife to whillome Sr Adame Mure. (a1657 W.  Mure Hist.
Rowallane in Wks. (1898) II. 249 [OED])

(11) a. Behold these men, says the Gironde; with the whilom Bourbon Prince
among them (1795 Carlyle, The French revolution [CLMET3.0])
b. “This morning,” said the whilom captain of the Lady of the Gulf, “between
eight and nine, we saw a fl eet of small vessels and gun- boats standing in for
the island.” (1836 Ingraham, Lafi tte [COHA])
c. Here does the whilom grub~staker and present millionaire purchase his cor-
ner lot (1880 Hayes, New Colorado [1881] vii.107 [OED])
d. According to their agreement, Ethel gave her whilom husband due notice of
her plans, (1886 McClelland (Greenway), Princess [COHA])
e. Nasac, the whilom Sultan of Egypt (1906 Wedgwood, The memoirs of
the Lord of joinville [ Modern English collection , University of Virginia
Electronic Text Center (UofV)])
f. “The story was soon related, and the girl’s indignation against his whilom
rival fi lled him with delight.” (1909 Townley, The scarlet feather [COHA])
g. One question was whether he had given money to Albert Bacon Fall, whi-
lom Secretary of the Interior. (1929/ 04/ 15 TIME)
The chronology of whilom can be summarized as in Figure 3.2.
Again, there does not seem to be a unilineal path of development. Instead of
developing sequentially from the pragmatic marker, adjectival whilom derives
from the adverbial form meaning ‘formerly, once.’ We see this in examples

‘sometimes’

OE ME EModE ModE

Predicate

adverb

Pragmatic

marker

Adjective

‘sometimes

... other times’

‘once, formerly’

‘once upon a

time’

‘former’ (of a

person)

Predicate

adverb

Correlative

conjunction

Figure 3.2 Chronology of whilom

Source: adapted from Laurel J. Brinton, “‘Whilom, as olde stories tellen us’:

The discourse marker whilom in Middle English,” in A.E. Christa Canitz and

Gernot E. Wieland (eds.), From Arabye to Engelond. Ottawa: University of

Ottawa Press, 1999, p. 188; reprinted with permission.

3.3 Evolution of Whilom