Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
from hence, from thence, from whence
have long been faulted for a redundancy said to exist because from is implicit in all three. The matter is academic today, except for from whence, which continues in somewhat Formal and Oratorical use: From whence he came, I never learned. In current use hence and thence are now used only separately from from: You must go hence and inquire is very formal, and even more elevated and perhaps more pretentious is We hurried thence at once.
Hence by itself means “away,” as in the very stiff-sounding Go hence, and never return; “hereafter, thereafter, after this,” as in A few years hence it will no longer matter; and, most frequently of all, “as a result, therefore,” as in It was dark and rainy; hence we didn’t see that the bridge was out.
