Hwilum

Part of speech: adverb

Definitions

1. An archaic adverb meaning occasionally or from time to time ; in earlier days or at some point in the past
2. Old English adverb for sometimes or now and then ; a word expressing that something happened once in former times
3. A dated term meaning at intervals or on certain occasions ; used to say that something was true at an earlier time

Etymology: Hwilum is an Old English adverb meaning "at times" or "sometimes," and it is a plural of a noun. Its root is "hwīl," meaning "time" or "a while," which is also the source of the modern English "while." The adverb is essentially the dative plural of that noun, so it literally meant something like "at times" or "in (those) periods," with the -um ending marking the case. Old English was rich in these fossilized case forms, which is why a word that looks like a plural noun ended up behaving as an adverb. The word did not survive into modern English. It was gradually replaced by "sometimes," itself formed from "some" and "times," and "hwilum" faded out of use around the close of the Old English period. Its cousin "while" lived on, however, and "whilom," meaning "formerly," is a later English descendant of the same dative plural pattern, sharing the same ancestry.

Synonyms: sometimes, occasionally, at times

Antonyms: always, never