Etymology

selly

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Today it means: Rare; wonderful; admirable Full definition →

Middle English selly ← Old English sellīċ ← Proto-West Germanic *seldalīk
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*seldalīkaz
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*seldalīk
  3. Old English · inherited fromsellīċ
  4. Middle English · inherited fromselly
  5. English todayselly

From Middle English selly, selly, sellich, from Old English sellīċ, seldlīċ (“rare, strange, wondrous”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldalīk, from Proto-Germanic *seldalīkaz, equivalent to seld + -ly. Cognate with Scots selly, silly (“approved, good, worthy”), Old Saxon seldlīk (“rare, wonderful”), Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌳𐌰𐌻𐌴𐌹𐌺𐍃 (sildaleiks, “wonderful”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.