The story
- Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*gōdnassī“goodness”
- Old English · inherited fromgōdnes“goodness; virtue; kindness”
- Middle English · inherited fromgoodnesse
- English todaygoodness
From Middle English goodnesse, godnesse, from Old English gōdnes (“goodness; virtue; kindness”), from Proto-West Germanic *gōdnassī (“goodness”), equivalent to good + -ness. Cognate with Scots guidness (“goodness”), West Frisian goedens (“goodness”), Old High German guotnessī (“goodness”), Middle High German guotnisse (“goodness”), Russian годность (godnostʹ, “suitability, fitness”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.