mightily

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · inherited from*megʰ-“to be able”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*mahtīgaz“mighty”
3. Old English · inherited frommeahtiglice“with might, powerfully, mightily”
4. Middle English · inherited frommightili“with might, powerfully, strongly; forcefully, violently; greatly; etc.”
5. English todaymightily

From Middle English mightili (“with might, powerfully, strongly; forcefully, violently; greatly; etc.”), from Old English meahtiglice (“with might, powerfully, mightily”), from meahtiġ, mihtiġ (“powerful, mighty”) + -līċe (suffix forming adverbs). Mihtiġ is derived from Proto-Germanic *mahtīgaz (“mighty”), from *mahtiz (“force, strength; ability, power”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *megʰ- (“to be able”)) + *-gaz (suffix with the sense ‘being; doing; having’ forming adjectives). By surface analysis, mighty + -ly (suffix forming adverbs).

Words from the same roots