5

Words like

aforementioned, aforesaid, hereby, henceforward, hereupon, notwithstanding, therein, thereof, therefore, thereto, thenceforth, thenceforward, wherein, whereof...

And also, under what classification do these words go?

Mari-Lou A
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L'anglais est chouette
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    What do you mean ‘this kind of words’? There’s not really anything all those words have in common, apart from the fact that they are compound words in which at least one of the two constituent words is either an adverb or a preposition (but less common word classes to be used in compounds in English), so it’s very hard to know what you would expect to be listed. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 19:03
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    They go under the categories "Legal Terms", and "Archaic Terms" (to the extent those are distinct categories). If you see one of these words in a document, talk to a lawyer before signing anything. If you ever hear anyone use one of these in conversation, move immediately to the closest exit. – John Lawler Jan 19 '14 at 19:05
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    @John, that’s a bit harsh, surely. I have no problem whatsoever using ‘therefore’ in normal conversation, and I might well use ‘notwithstanding’, too. (And ‘henceforth’, though that’s not on the list.) – Janus Bahs Jacquet Jan 19 '14 at 19:26
  • @JanusBahsJacquet Absolutely. I can think of instances where I might use any of them, albeit perhaps with an attempt at wit and irony in some cases. What is the use of having a prodigious language like English at one's disposal only to dumb it down at every turn? Even used correctly, big words can misregister if ineptly timed. Police officers are routinely satirised in Britain for just that. But used effectively by an erudite personality like Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, the effect can be devastating. – WS2 Jan 19 '14 at 22:08
  • @WS2 Don't you mean harmenbecks? You have to draw the line somewhere, and most of these are best left on the far side. – Edwin Ashworth Jan 19 '14 at 22:49
  • I'm probably violating a rule of this forum with a digression that doesn't answer the question, but I just can't help sharing the following, from a book I had as a kid (~40 years ago) about American rural (specifically, Vermont) humor: Two farmers are watching a long-winded politician making a speech. The politician is saying "Whereas, and heretofore notwithstanding . . ." One farmer quietly asks "What's he talkin' about?" to which the other farmer replies "He don't say." – samiam1955 Jan 20 '14 at 01:24
  • @samanian D'ya fa ki' a dicker. bor? Do you know what that means? It is from the rural dialect of Norfolk which I used as a child. Just because there exist rural (and urban) communities which have limited ranges of vocabulary, and curious grammatical forms, doesn't mean it is not worth aspiring to speak the Queen's language. I still take pride in speaking the Norfolk dialect and have written a large part of the Wiki entry on the subject. But expressing satisfaction in ignorance is productive of nothing. – WS2 Jan 20 '14 at 09:49
  • It's ok, I got what I wanted. I know not all the words go under a specific category but I did notice them used in a lot of official bills and documents (Like the Emancipation proclamation). – L'anglais est chouette Jan 20 '14 at 18:47
  • I cannot post an answer but these terms are part of a larger group of words called: cohesive devices, transitional words, discourse markers or simply connecting words – Mari-Lou A Jul 20 '19 at 18:10
  • I am wholly against deleting this question, just because it asked for a list of words in the original title. – Mari-Lou A Jul 20 '19 at 18:11

1 Answers1

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Many of the words you list are used as legalisms

2: a legal term or rule

Lawyerspeak, and legalese are also used to describe such terms.

Aforementioned and aforesaid in contracts:
https://www.adamsdrafting.com/aforesaid-and-aforementioned/

Henceforward in the Emancipation proclamation:
https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Emancipation+Proclamation

Notwithstanding in contracts:
https://weagree.com/weblog/notwithstanding-is-a-tricky-one/

The simple ones often get used in regular speech, but the more complex variants are almost always found in contracts and such. They're like XOR, EOR and NOR used mostly by logicians and programmers.

Wayfaring Stranger
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