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January 23, 2007
Vishy's Indian English Dictionary: whomsoever
whomsoever. /HOOM·so·evuh/. Not originally an Indian English word, it is nonetheless a vestige of the British bureaucrat-raj of yore in present-day India's babucracy. This word is used to begin formal correspondence where the addressee is unknown, as in "To Whomsoever It May Concern". The U.S. equivalent, as you may have guessed, is "To Whom It May Concern" (I don't know if it's just me, but 'whomsoever' sounds a lot more... dismissive than 'whom').
The word occurs in the Bible (King James Version), in the gospel of Matthew as "Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he". But even the contemporary English Standard version of the Bible has moved on, choosing to use "The one" in place of "whomsoever". If you google for whomsoever, most of the hits are sources linked somehow to India. It's safe to say then that 'whomsoever' is now Indian English.
Posted by Vishy at January 23, 2007 03:03 PM