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Origin and history of soberly

soberly(adv.)

mid-14c., "temperately;" late 14c., "gravely," from sober (adj.) + -ly (2).

also from mid-14c.

Entries linking to soberly

sober(adj.)

mid-14c., sobre, "moderate in desires or actions, habitually temperate, restrained," especially "abstaining from strong drink," also "calm, quiet, not overcome by emotion," from Old French sobre "decent; sober" (12c.), from Latin sobrius "not drunk, temperate, moderate, sensible," from a variant of se- "without" (see se-) + ebrius "drunk," which is of unknown origin.

The meaning "free from the influence of intoxicating liquors; not drunk at the moment" is from late 14c.; also "appropriately solemn, serious, not giddy." As "plain or simple in color" by 1590s. Jocular sobersides "sedate, serious-minded person" is recorded from 1705.

-ly(2)

common adverbial suffix, forming, from adjectives, adverbs signifying "in a manner denoted by" the adjective; Middle English -li, from Old English -lice, from Proto-Germanic *-liko- (source also of Old Frisian -like, Old Saxon -liko, Dutch -lijk, Old High German -licho, German -lich, Old Norse -liga, Gothic -leiko). See -ly (1). It is cognate with lich, and identical with like (adj.).

Weekley notes as "curious" that Germanic uses a word essentially meaning "body" for the adverbial formation, while Romanic uses one meaning "mind" (as in French constamment from Latin constanti mente). The modern English form emerged in late Middle English, probably from influence of Old Norse -liga.

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    Trends of soberly

    adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/ with a 7-year moving average; ngrams are probably unreliable.

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    snow
    Middle English snou, from Old English snaw "snow, that which falls as snow; a fall of snow; a snowstorm," from Proto-Germanic *snaiwaz (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German sneo, Old Frisian and Middle Low German sne, Middle Dutch snee, Dutch sneeuw, German Schnee, Old No
    bureaucracy
    "government by bureaus," especially "tyrannical officialdom," excessive multiplication of administrative bureaus and concentration of power in them, in reference to their tendency to interfere in private matters and be inefficient and inflexible, 1818, from French bureaucratie, c
    analogy
    early 15c., "correspondence, proportion," from Old French analogie or directly from Latin analogia, from Greek analogia "proportion," from ana "upon, according to" (see ana-) + logos "ratio," also "word, speech, reckoning" (from PIE root *leg- (1) "to collect, gather," with deriv
    scrutiny
    early 15c., "the formal enumerating of the votes in an election to an office or dignity" (according to OED, "Now chiefly in Canon Law"), from Late Latin scrutinium "a search, inquiry" (in Medieval Latin, "a mode of election by ballot"), from Latin scrutari "to examine, investigat
    abstruse
    1590s, "remote from comprehension," from French abstrus (16c.) or directly from Latin abstrusus "hidden, concealed, secret," past participle of abstrudere "conceal, hide," literally "to thrust away," from assimilated form of ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + trudere "to thrust, pus
    delta
    c. 1200, name of the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (equivalent to our D), which was shaped like a triangle. The name is from Phoenician daleth "tent door." Sense of "triangular island or alluvial tract between the diverging branches of the mouth of a great river" is because
    spurn
    Middle English spurnen, from Old English spurnan "to kick (away), strike against, drive back," as with the foot (a sense now obsolete); also "reject with disdain, scorn, despise," from Proto-Germanic *spurnon (source also of Old Saxon and Old High German spurnan, Old Frisian spur
    faith
    mid-13c., faith, feith, fei, fai "faithfulness to a trust or promise; loyalty to a person; honesty, truthfulness," from Anglo-French and Old French feid, foi "faith, belief, trust, confidence; pledge" (11c.), from Latin fides "trust, faith, confidence, reliance, credence, belief,
    carbohydrate
    general name for a group of organic compounds consisting of carbon atoms in multiples of 6 and hydrogen and oxygen in the proportion of water, 1851, from carbo-, combining form of carbon, + hydrate (n.), denoting compound produced when certain substances combine with water, from
    salmon
    early 13c., samoun, the North Atlantic salmon, from Anglo-French samoun, Old French salmun (Modern French saumon), from Latin salmonem (nominative salmo) "a salmon," probably originally "leaper," from salire "to leap" (see salient (adj.)), though some dismiss this as folk etymolo

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