Whence?

Note to pedants: the "correct usage" is usually said to be "Whence did he come?", and not "From whence ...", which is thought to be redundant. [I once studied Shakespeare with Frank Kermode and Old English (Beowulf et al.) with Richard Sax, both at Columbia, whence I picked up such good words.]

American Heritage Dictionary ALERT!
"USAGE NOTE: The construction from whence has been criticized as redundant since the 18th century. It is true that whence incorporates the sense of from: "... a remote village, whence little news reached the wider world." But from whence has been used steadily by reputable writers since the 14th century, most notably in the King James Bible: "Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken." (Genesis 003:023) "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." (Book 19 Pslams 121:001) It is difficult to label as incorrect a construction with such respectable antecedents. Still, it may be observed that whence (like thence) is most often used nowadays to impart an archaic or highly formal tone to a passage, and that this effect is probably better realized if the archaic syntax of the word - without from - is preserved as well.
[Middle English whennes : whenne, whence (from Old English hwanon; see kwo- below) + -es, genitive sing. suff.; see -S3.] -s3 suff. Used to form adverbs: They were caught unawares. He works nights. [Middle English -es, -s, genitive sing. suff., from Old English -es.]
kwo-. Important derivatives are: who, what, why, which, how, when, where, whether, neither, either, quorum, quip, quasi, quote, quotient, quantity, quality, neuter, alibi.
kwo-. Also kwi-. Stem of relative and interrogative pronouns.
1.f. (i) WHEN, from Old English hwenne, hwanne, when; (ii) WHENCE, from Old English hwanon, whence. Both (i) and (ii) from Germanic adverb *hwan-.
[Pokorny kšo- 644.]"
END American Heritage Dictionary ALERT!

Note that my handy concordance of the King James Bible (just whipped up in a minute on my Mac with Conc 1.80b3 fat) gives 27 instances of "from whence", 45 instances of "whence" without "from", and 72 instances of "whence" altogether.

Please, stop me before I etymologize again!
J.B. Lowe