INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
are the words for 'who', 'which', etc. Not, however, those for 'how', 'why', 'where' &c., which are adverbs.

hverr – 'which (one)' is inflected like a ja-stem adjective:		sing.
	nom.	hver-r	hver-	hver-t
	gen.	hver-s	hver-rar	hver-s
	dat.	hver-jum	hver-ri	hver-ju
	acc.	hver-n	hver-ja	hver-t
			etc.

	sing.			hvár – 'who, what' has only a few forms of its own. The rest of the paradigm is filled up with forms of hverr* 'which':
nom.	hver-r	hver-	hvat
gen.	hvess	hver-rar	hvess
dat.	hveim	hver-ri	hví
acc.	hver-n	hver-ja	hvat
	plur.
	(just like hverr)

hvárr – 'which (one) (of two)' is inflected quite normally. There is also an older form hvaðarr, only found in poetry.		sing.
	nom.	hvár-r	hvár- (= hvör-)	hvár-t
	gen.	hvár-s	hvár-rar	hvár-s
	dat.	hvár-um (= hvör-um)	hvár-ri	hvár-u (= hvör-u)
	acc.	hvár-n	hvár-a	hvár-t
			etc.

hvílíkr – 'what kind of'
is inflected like just a strong adjective.

These pronouns are all derived from the PIE pronominal stem *kwi- or *kwo-.
Hverr consists of the *kwo-derivation hvar 'where' and the PIE pronominal stem *jo-: *kwor-jos > *hwarjaz > hverr.
*Hvár (the masc. nom. sing. form is attested in OSw. but not in OIcel.) is formed directly from the stem *kwo: *kwo-s > *hwa-z > OSw. hvâr (and Old Engl. hwá > Engl. who), *kwo-d > *hwat > hvat (Old Engl. hwæt > Engl. what).
Hvárr is derived from the same root with the PIE suffix *-tero- (cf. Sanskr. kataráh, Gr. póteros), which is more easily seen in the variant hvaðarr: *kwo-tero-s > *hwaþaraz > hvaðarr (OEngl. hweðer, Engl. whether), plur. *kwo-tero-i (orig. a pronominal ending) > *hwaþarai(z) > hvárir.
Hvílíkr is put together from the old Germanic instrumental *hwî (ON. dative hví) and the adjective *lîkaz 'like'. OEngl. hwilc and Engl. which is the same word.