80
Middle English Whilom
to the reading ‘formerly’ (see below). Throughout Old and Middle English,
whilom may occur in correlated structures (or in multiples) with the sense ‘at
some times ... at other times’:
(4) a. Geseah ic þæt fuse beacen/ wendan wædum ond bleom; hwilum hit wæs mid
wætan bestemed,/ beswyled mid swates gange, hwilum mid since gegyrwed
(Dream 21– 23)
‘I saw the changeful sign alter in garments and colors; sometimes it was
bedewed with moisture, stained with the fl owing of blood, sometimes adorned
with treasure’
b. Ða Cwenas hergiað hwilum on ða Norðmen ofer ðone mor, hwilum þa
Norðmen on hy. (Or 1.15.34)
‘The inhabitants of Cwenland sometimes plunder the Norsemen over the
moor, sometimes the Norsemen them’
c. & hwilun of þare ceolan þt blod ut wylþ. hwilum of ʒ oman. hwilum of þan
scearpan banum þe bytweox þan breostan byþ. & hwylum of þare lun ʒ one.
hwylum of þan ma ʒ en (c1150 Peri didaxeon 876– 79 [HC])
‘and sometimes that blood wells out from the throat, sometimes from the
gums, sometimes from the scarp bone that is between the breast, and some-
times from the lungs, sometimes from the maw (stomach)’
d. Thou shalt no whyle be in o stat,/ But whylom cold and whilom hat (c1360
Chaucer, Romaunt of the rose 2397– 98)
‘You shall for no period be in one state but sometimes cold and
sometimes hot’
e. Vntenderly from þe toppe þai tiltin togederz,/ Whilom Arthure ouer and
oþerwhile vndyre (c1400 Alliterative morte Arthur 1144– 45 [CMEP&V])
‘Fiercely from the top they tilt together, sometimes Arthur on top and other
times under’
f. And quhylum ... he sat still in ane studeying,/ And quhylum on his buik he
was reyding (1550 Freiris berwik 353 in Craigie, Maitland Folio MS [1919]
I.143 [OED])
‘And sometimes he sat still alone studying and sometimes he was reading in
his book’
In Middle English whilom acquires a second adverbial meaning, ‘at some
past time, some time before or ago, formerly.’ The fi rst example given in the
OED (s.v. whilom , def. 2a) is from the Ormulum (c1200).^10 With few excep-
tions, Middle and Early Modern examples of whilom are of this type, as shown
in the following examples from different centuries.
10 BTS (s.v. wh ī lom , def. 2) suggests that whilom can modify a single event with the meaning
‘once, some time ago,’ citing the following late OE example: seðe wæs fore setnunge hwilum
vel forlonge aworden in ðær cæstre 7 morðor wæs gesended in carcern. ( The Rushworth gos-
pels Lk 23.19) ‘This man had been thrown into prison for causing a riot in the city and for
murder.’