Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
hither (adv., adj.), thither, whither (advs.)
These somewhat quaint or old-fashioned adverbs mean respectively “to here, or to this place,” as in We moved hither from Chicago; “to there or to that place,” as in We moved thither from New York; and “to where or wherever or whatever place,” as in At Memphis, whither we had gone for a vacation, we met some friends. Hither is also used in a cliché with yon, meaning “here and there,” as in We ran hither and yon but saw nothing of them. Again, the sound is either old-fashioned or quaintly literary. Whither is used figuratively and in a familiar rhetorical convention as a one-word way of saying “Where will it or they go or end?” as in Whither the commercial networks now? Hither is also used as an adjective meaning “near,” as in The house was on the hither side of that little village, and thither means “on the other, farther away side,” as in We climbed the thither face of the mountain. All these uses are Standard.
