From what place, source, or cause; an archaic or formal way of asking or stating from where something comes.
From Middle English, combining 'whence' with the genitive ending. Related to 'when' and 'where', it's one of the few English words preserving the old interrogative/relative system.
Saying 'from whence' is technically redundant since 'whence' already means 'from where' - but this redundancy appears even in classical literature. The word survives mainly in legal documents and pompous speech, like a linguistic fossil from more formal times.
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