quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- which[which 词源字典]
- which: [OE] Etymologically, which means ‘what like, of what form or sort?’ The word was formed in the prehistoric Germanic period from the interrogative base *khwa-, *khwe- (source of English what, who, etc) and *līka- ‘body, form’ (source of English like and also incorporated into English each and such). Its Germanic relatives include German welch and Dutch welk ‘which’.
=> like[which etymology, which origin, 英语词源] - which (pron.)
- Old English hwilc (West Saxon, Anglian), hwælc (Northumbrian) "which," short for hwi-lic "of what form," from Proto-Germanic *hwa-lik- (cognates: Old Saxon hwilik, Old Norse hvelikr, Swedish vilken, Old Frisian hwelik, Middle Dutch wilk, Dutch welk, Old High German hwelich, German welch, Gothic hvileiks "which"), from *hwi- "who" (see who) + *likan "body, form" (cognates: Old English lic "body;" see like (adj.)). In Middle English used as a relative pronoun where Modern English would use who, as still in the Lord's Prayer. Old English also had parallel forms hwelc and hwylc, which disappeared 15c.