The story
- Middle English · inherited fromholly“wholly”
- English todaywholly
From Middle English holly (“wholly”), holeliche, holliche (also as halely, hallich, etc.). Doublet of earlier holy. By surface analysis, whol(e) + -ly.
Words from the same roots
Middle Englishholly all →
holly
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.